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THE   GREAT   SCHOOLMEN   OF   THE 
MIDDLE   AGES. 


■'  Now  hands  to  seed-sheet,  boys, 
We  step  and  we  cast  ;  old  Time's  on  wing 
And  would  ye  partake  of  harvest's  joys, 
The  corn  must  be  sown  in  spring. 
Fall  gently  and  still,  good  corn, 
Lie  warm  in  thy  earthy  bed. 
And  stand  so  yellow  some  morn 
That  beast  and  man  may  be  fed. 

"  Old  earth  is  a  pleasure  to  see 
In  sunshiny  cloak  of  red  and  green  ; 
The  furrow  lies  fresh  ;  this  year  will  be 
As  the  years  that  have  past  have  been. 

"  Old  Mother,  receive  this  corn, 
The  seed  of  six  thousand  golden  sires  ; 
All  these  on  thy  kindly  breast  were  born  ; 
One  more  thy  poor  child  requires. 

"  Now  steady  and  sure  again. 
And  measure  of  stroke  and  step  we  keep  ; 
Thus  up  and  thus  down  we  cast  our  grain  ; 
Sow  well  and  you  gladly  reap." 


T.  Carlyxe. 


THE  GREAT  SCHOOLMEN 


MIDDLE  AGES. 


AN  ACCOUNT  OF  THEIR  LIVES,  AND  THE 

SERVICES  THEY  RENDERED 

TO  THE  CHURCH  AND 

THE  WORLD. 


W.    J.    TOWN  SEND. 


ANASTATIC  REPRINT 

G.  E.  STECHERT  &  CO., 
1920 


Hazel),  Watson,  and  Viney,  Printers,  London  and  Aylesbury. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

I  NT  ROD  UC  TOR  Y. 

PAGE 

General  estimate  formed  of  Schoolmen— Why  they  were  opposed  by 
Reformers — Time  for  them  to  be  more  highly  appreciated — In- 
stances of  undue  depreciation — Sir  W.  Hamilton's  estimate  of  them 
— Testimony  of  Sir  J.  Mackintosh— Professor  F.  D.  Maurice  on 
Aquinas— Dr.  W.  B.  Pope  on  Scholastic  Theology— Bishop 
Hampden  on  Scholastic  Philosophy— Cousin  and  Guizot  on  the 
Scholastics — Testimonies  of  German  writers— The  object  of  the 
present  work 3 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  RENAISSANCE   UNDER   CHARLEMAGNE. 

The  Dominions  of  Charlemagne— His  characteristics  and  his  aims — 
The  state  of  Society  at  his  accession — The  condition  of  the  Church 
— The  state  of  learning  in  Europe — Intellectual  progress  amongst 
Mohammedans — Signs  of  awakening  in  England — Alcuin — Efforts 
of  Charlemagne  for  a  revival  of  letters — Labours  of  Alcuin  in 
France — Charlemagne's  reforms  in  the  Church — Louis  the  Pious 
unable  to  maintain  them — The  Dark  Ages 17 


vi  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  III. 

THE  HARBINGER   OF  DAWN.— JOHN  SCOT  US  ERIGENA. 

PAGE 

Charles  the  Bald  a  patron  of  learning— Erigena  drawn  to  his  Court- 
Incidents  of  Court  life  of  Erigena — His  accomplishments — Works 
of  Dionysius  the  Areopagite— Their  relation  to  Alexandrian  philo- 
sophy—The teachings  of  Plotinus — Proclus  and  his  relation  to 
Plotinus — The  incorporation  of  Alexandrian  philosophy  and  Chris- 
tian teachings  by  Dionysius — Erigena  as  his  student  and  translator 
£)f  Divisione  Natures — The  theological  and  philosophical  teach- 
ings of  Erigena — The  student's  prayer — Controversy  on  Transub- 
stantiation — Controversy  on  Predestination — Erigena  taxed  with 
heresy— His  place  in  history— Notes  to  Chapter  III 35 

CHAPTER  IV. 

YEARNINGS  FOR    THE  LIGHT.-POPE  SYLVESTER  II. 

Gro\vtb  of  the  Papacy  in  secularity  and  corruption— Stray  gleams  of 
light  in  the  Dark  Ages— Birth  and  youth  of  Gerbert— Studies  in 
Spanish  schools — Otho  the  Great — The  intellectual  and  scientific 
labours  of  Gerbert — FViendship  with  Hugh  Capet — Great  speech 
against  the  Papacy — In  the  Court  of  Otho — The  thousandth  year 
A.D. — Gerbert  made  Pope — Labours  to  promote  purity  and  pro- 
gress— First  signal  for  a  crusade — Death  of  Otho— Death  of  Gerbert 

His  pupils  and  successors — The  Normans  in  Europe — Note  to 

Chapter  IV 65 

CHAPTER  V. 

THE  FOUNDER   OF  MEDIMVAL    THEOLOGY— ANSELM. 

Birth  and  parentage  of  Anselm — Youthful  experience  and  fancies — The 
Monastery  of  Bee — Anselm,  the  Prior  and  the  Abbot — His  fame 
as  a  teacher — His  numerous  productions — Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury— The  struggle  for  spiritual  supremacy — His  firm  and 
courageous  bearing  in  the  struggle — His  death  and  character — 
His  teachings  in  philosophy  and  theology — The  Ontological 
Argument — The  Cur  Dem  Homo — Controversy  with  Roscellin — 
Anselm  a  man  of  immense  influence — Notes  to  Chapter  V.         ...     79 


CONTENTS.  vxi 

CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  STRUGGLE  OF  RATIONALISM.- PETER  ABELARD. 

PACE 

The  romance  of  Abelard — His  birth  and  youthful  studies — His  discus- 
sion with  William  of  Cliampeaux — His  great  popularity — Indica- 
tions of  danger — His  relation  to  the  Church — His  teachings  on 
Universals :  Conceptualism — His  theological  teachings — Evil  days : 
Enemies  within  and  without — Heloise— The  ill-fated  love  between 
her  and  Abdlard — The  Cloister — His  lectures  at  Maisoncelle — 
Immured  at  St.  Denys — The  Paraclete — The  Abbey  of  St.  Giidas 
— The  throngs  at  Mount  St.  Genevieve — The  Sic  et  Non — The 
Assembly  at  Sens — Bernard  of  Clarvaux — The  Appeal  to  Rome 
— The  Refuge  of  Clugny — Light  at  eventide,  and  rest  for  ever — 
The  famous  letters — ^The  teaching  and  influence  of  Abelard — Note    99 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  SWEET  SONG   OF  MYSTICISM.— THE  MONKS  OF  ST.    I'ICTOR. 

The  Abbey  of  St.  Victor — The  Mysticism  of  Bernard — Hugo  :  His 
extraction  and  youth — Made  Prior  of  St.  Victor — His  writings — 
His  mystical  gpirit  and  scholastic  method — His  views  of  theology 
and  philosophy — The  features  of  his  character  and  WTitings — 
Richard  St.  Victor — The  stages  of  religious  development — The 
six  stages  of  contemplation — The  reforming  tendencies  of  Richard 
— Walter  St.  Victor — Healthy  influence  of  the  Victorines — Notes 
to  Chapter  VII.  125 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  MASTER   OF  THE  SENTENCES.-PETER    THE  LOMBARD. 

The  influences  of  the  twelfth  century — The  man  and  the  hour— Peter : 
His  youth  and  studies — Becomes  Bishop  of  Paris — The  "Book  of 
Sentences" — Its  contents,  method,  and  influence — His  views  on 
philosophy  and  theology — His  characteristics  and  influence — 
Notes  to  Chapter  VIII 139 


vUi  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  GRECIAN  DOCTOR.-THE  ADVANCE  OF  ARISTOTELIANISM. 

PAca 
The  increasing  attention  to  works  of  Aristotle — Alarm  and  jealousy 
aroused  in  the  Church— The  influence  of  the  Greek  Master  on  the 
Arabians— The  Arabian  civilization  in  Europe— The  great  attain- 
ments in  philosophy  and  science  of  the  Arabians— The  libraries 
and  schools  of  the  Mohatnmedans— Aristotle,  their  intellectual  king 

Avicenna  andAlgazel — Averroes :    Doctrine   of  Unity  of  the 

Intellect — The  Aristotelic  Arabians  extraordinary  men— Their 
permeating  influence  in  Europe— A  true  instinct  by  which  Aristotle 
became  the  intellectual  master  of  Christendom— The  opposi- 
tion of  the  Church — The  Dominican  Monks — The  Aristotelians  of 
the  Church— Providence  in  their  rise  and  labours — Notes  to 
Chapter  IX »S3 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE   UNIVERSAL  DOCTOR.— ALBERTUS  MAGNUS. 

The  parentage  and  birth  of  Albert— Unites  with  the  Dominican  Order 

Lectures  at  Cologne — His  extraordinary  eradition — Public  offices 

and  labours— Bishop  of  Ratisbon — The  Council  of  Lyons— His 
death— His  character  and  influence— His  teaching  on  Universals 

His   views   on    religious    doctrine— His    psychology— General 

characteristics  of  his  teaching— Note  to  Chapter  X 165 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE   IRREFRAGABLE  DOCTOR.-ALEXANDER   OF  HALES. 

The  birth  and  education  of  Alexander— He  joins  the  Franciscan  Order 
— Life  of  earnest  and  laborious  study— His  works — Alexander  a 
Realist— His  theological  views— Habit  of  treating  trivial  questions 
— Influence  on  important  doctrines— His  pious  sayings  and  mental 
independence — Notes  to  Chapter  XI.  I77 


CONTENTS.  ix 

CHAPTER  XII. 
THE  SERAPIIICAL  DOCTOR.-BONAVENTURA. 

PACK 

His  parents — Pious  training — Devotion  to  learning  and  piety — Patient 
industriousncss — Head  of  Fr.anciscan  Order — Persecution  of  Roger 
Bacon — Promutcs  election  of  Pope  Gregory  I.— Council  of  Lyons 
— Death  and  funeral — Works  —  Aquinas  and  Bonaventura — A 
Schoolman  and  Mystic — Relation  of  Reason  and  Faith — Itinerary 
of  Soul — Chartered  gifts — Mariolatry — Its  cause  and  cure — Pas- 
sionate contemplation  of  Christ — Notes  to  Chapter  XII. ...         ...  187 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE  ANGELICAL  DOCTOR.— THOMAS  AQUIHAS. 
Parentage  and  early  life — Unites  with  Dominicans — Student  life  at 
Paris — Disputes  between  university  and  citizens — Aquinas  pro- 
moted and  honoured — His  varied  and  active  labours-^The  Council 
of  Lyons — His  death — Appearance  and  character — His  sayings — 
The  sum  of  theology — Its  aim  and  value  — Its  arrangement  and 
contents — The  method  of  treatment  pursued — Its  influence  and 
commendation  by  Gregory  XIII.      ...         ...         ...  199 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
THE  ANGELICAL  DOCTOR.— HIS  OPINIONS. 
Two  sources  of  knowledge — On  Universals — Cause  of  individuation — • 
The  existence  and  nature  of  God — The  Holy  Trinity — The  Incar- 
nation of  the  Word — The  Atonement — The  fall  of  man  and  his 
salvation — Counsel  and  precept — The  Sacraments — Eschatology 
— His  notions  on  Ethics — His  democracy — General  characteristics 
of  his  writings — He  did  what  he  could' — Notes  to  Chapter  XIV.      217 

CHAPTER  XV. 

THE  SUBTLE  DOCTOR.— DUNS  SCOTUS. 
Controversy  as  to  his  birthplace — Early  life  and  career — Immense 
influence  at  Paris — Removal  to  Cologne — Sudden  and  mysterious 
death — His  marvellous  industry — rllis  rigid  dialecticism — Charac- 
teristics of  his  writings — Duns  and  Aquinas — Keenness  of  his 
critical  faculty — Duns  a  decided  Realist — Views  on  Chri.stian 
doctrine — Immaculate  Conception  of  Virgin — His  psychological 
opinions — General  estimate  of  him  and  his  work — Notes  to 
Chapter  XV 245 


X  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
THE  INVINCIBLE  DOCTOR.— WILLI  AM  OF  OCKAM. 

PAGE 

Early  training  and  influences — Condition  of  the  Papacy — Is  appointed 
head  of  Franciscans  in  England — Writes  against  temporal  power 
of  the  Popes — Seeks  refuge  at  Bavarian  Court — Writings  on 
ecclesiastical  reform — Influence  of  Duns  on  Ockam — His  decided 
Nominalism — His  sensationalism — His  opposition  to  intelligible 
species — His  theological  position  unsatisfactory — A  rational 
theology  not  possible — Transubstantiation — Disputants  who  suc- 
ceeded him — The  Reformer  of  the  School — His  boldness  and 
independence — His  work  and  influence— Notes  to  Chapter  XVI.     269 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE  MOST  CHRISTIAN  DOCTOR.-JEAN  CHARLIER   GERSON. 

The  decline  of  Scholasticism  after  Ockam — Degenerating  into  lifeless 
subtleties — Movement  towards  Platonism — The  rise  of  Mysticism 
— Gerson  the  transition  genius — His  youth  and  early  training  — 
His  rapid  promotion  at  University — Becomes  the  Chancellor — 
High  aims  and  endeavours — The  great  schism — The  Council  of 
Pisa — The  rival  Popes — The  Council  of  Constance — Gerson 
preaches  to  the  Council- — His  action  against  Jean  Petit — His 
prosecution  of  John  Huss — Contrast  between  Gerson  and  Huss — 
Gerson  a  fugitive — His  last  days — His  books  and  their  features — 
A  Schoolman  and  a  mystic — The  imitadon  of  Christ — The  failure 
of  Scholasticism — Notes  to  Chapter  XVII 291 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

THE  LEADERS  OF  THE  SCHOOL  AND    THEIR    WORK. 

The  profound  piety  of  the  Schoolmen — Their  relations  with  the  out- 
ward world — Their  acumen,  learning,  and  special  studies — Witness 
borne  by  Sir  James  Mackintosh — Anticipation  of  modem  philoso- 
phers— Their  grasp  of  Scripture  and  Christian  doctrine — The 
battle  of  human  reason  fought  by  them— Testimonies  of  Hampden 
and  Schwegler — D'Aubigne's  witness  to  their  efforts  for  liberty  of 
thought  and  conscience — Other  testimonies — The  Reformers  and 
the  Schoolmen — The  course  of  human  progress      ...313 


CONTENTS.  xi 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

CONSIDERATION  OF  OByECTIONS. 

PAGE 

Many  objections  to  the  Schoolmen  and  their  work — The  circumstances 
of  the  Schoolmen — Ought  those  more  highly  favoured  to  object  ? — 
The  objection  to  Scholastic  systematic  theologies — The  causes  of 
such  systems — The  rise  of  systems  of  thought  inevitable — The 
materials  of  a  system  found  in  Revelation — Systems  not  to  be  un- 
duly exalted — Objections  to  system  of  theology  of  equal  force  in 
respect  to  other  systems — Systems  sum  up  previous  results  and  make 
progress  possible — Use  of  Aristotle's  method  of  logic  by  School- 
men— Tendency  cf  Schoolmen  to  excessive  use  of  logical  methods 
— The  jargon  of  the  Schoolmen — How  could  they  have  done 
better? 339 

CHAPTER  XX. 

THE  RATIONALE  OF  SCHOLASTICISM 

Scholasticism  a  strange  growth — The  great  factors  of  Scholasticism — 
The  usual  course  of  civilisation  reversed  in  the  formation  of 
Christendom — Greek  philosophy  and  Christian  truth  the  only 
material  for  great  minds  to  use — They  became  necessarily  Christian 
logicians — They  expressed  the  highest  aspirations  of  the  tunes — 
The  restraints  upon  their  efforts — Their  failure  and  their 
triumph 357 


The  following  are  the  Editions  of  Books  quoted  in 
subsequent  pages,  and  which  are  here  given  to 
facilitate  reference  to  them  : — 

Ab/elardi  Petri.     Sic  et  Non.     Marburgi,  1851. 
Anselmi  Divi.     Opera  Omnia,     Coloniae  Aggrippina,  1612. 
Aquinatis,  S.  Thom^.     Summa  Totius  Theologice.     Antwerp,  1 585. 

BernardI,  S.     Opera  Omnia.     Farisiis,  1609. 

Berington.     Literary  History  of  Middle  Ages.     Bohn,  1846. 

Bruce,  A.  B.     Humiliation  of  Christ.     T.  Clark,  1876. 

Church,  R.  W.     St.  Anselm.     Macmillan,  1870. 

Coleridge,  S.  T.     Statesman's  Manual.     Gale  and  Fennei,  1816. 

„  Table  Talk.     J.  Murray,  1 85 1. 

Cousin,  V,     History  of  Modern  Philosophy.     T.  Clark,  1852. 
„  Philosophy  of  Kant.    J.  Chapman,  1854. 

DORNRR,  A.  J.     History  of  Doctrine  of  Person  of  Christ.    T.  Clark,  1862. 
Draper,  J.  W.     Intellectual  Histojy  of  Europe.     Bohn,  1875. 
Du  Pin.     Ecclesiastical  History.     6  vols.      1725. 

Encyc.  Britannica.    Edition  IX.  to  Vol.  XI. 

Encyc.  Metropolitana.     Vol.  XI.     Article  "Aquinas." 

Erigen.«,  Johannes  Scon.     De  Divisione  Natura;.     Oxonii,  16S1. 

Fkhrier,  J.  F.     In-titutes  of  Metaphysic.     W.  Blackwood,  1S54. 

GUIZOT,  F.     Lectures  on  History  of  France.     Bohn,  1846. 


xiv  WORKS  QUOTED. 

Hagenbach,  K.  H.     History  of  Doctrine.     2  vols.     T.  Clarke,  1850. 
Hallam,  H.     History  of  Europe  in  Middle  Ages.     Ward  and  Co. 
Hamilton,  W.    Lectures  on  Metaphysics.    2  vols.    W.  Blackwood,  1859. 

,,  Discussions  in  Philosophy,  etc.     Longmans,  1852. 

Hampden,  R.  H.     Bampton  Lecture.     3rd  ed.     Simpkin  and  Co.,  1848. 
Hardwick,  C.     Church  History,  Middle  Age.     Macmillan,  1853. 
Harper,  T.     Metaphysic  of  the  School.     Macmillan,  1879. 
Hook,  W.  F.     Lives  of  Archbishops  of  Canterbury.     Vol.  IL,  ist  series. 

JORTiN.     Observation  on  Ecclesiastical  History.     1805. 

Locke,  J.     On  the  Human  Understanding.     Tegg  and  Co.,  1825. 
Lombardi,  Petri.     Sententiarum  Libri  IV.     Parisiis,  1638. 
LuPTON.     Glory  of  their  Times.     Original  Edition.      1640. 

Mackintosh,  J.     Works.     3  vols.     Longmans,  1846. 

Maclear,  G.  F.     Apostles  of  Mediaeval  Europe.     Macmillan,  1869. 

Matheson,  G.     Growth  of  Spirit  of  Christianity.     2  vols.     Clark,  1877. 

Maurice,  F.  D.    Moral  and  Metaphysical  Philosophy.    Macmillan,  1872. 

MORELL,  J.  D.     View  of  Philosophy  in  Europe.     Pickering,  1846. 

MosHEiM.     Ecclesiastical  History.     Blackie,  1846. 

MiLMAN,  H.  H.    History  of  Latin  Christianity.    9  vols.    J.  Murray,  1872 

Neander,  a.     Church  History.     9  vols.     T.  Clark,  1847. 
,,  History  of  Dogma.     2  vols.     Bohn,  1858. 

Oosterzee,  J.  J.  van.     Christian  Dogmatics.     Hodder  and  Stoughton, 
1874. 

Pope,  W.  B.     Compendium  of  Theologj'.     3  vols.     Wesleyan  Conference 
Office,  1879. 

Reid,  T.     Works  by  Hamilton.     Maclachlan  and  Co.,  1846. 
Robertson,  J.  C.    Histoiy  of  Christian  Church.    3  vols.   J.  Murray,  1868. 

Schwegler,  A.     History  of  Philosophy.     Edmonstone  and  Co.,  1868. 
Stephens,  J.     Lectures  on  History  of  France.     Longmans,  1849. 
.Stewart,  D.     Philosophy  of  Human  Mind.     Cadell  and  Davies,  1808. 
Stoughton,  J.     Ages  of  Christendom.    Jackson  and  Walford,  1857. 


WORK'S   QUOTED.  xv 

Tknneman.     Manual  of  Philosophy.     Bohn,  1852. 

Tkknch,  R.  C.     Mediieval  Church  History. 

Turner,  S.     History  of  Anglo-Saxous.     3  vols.     Longmans,  1852. 

,,  History  of  Middle  Ages  in  England.     3  vols.     Longmans, 

1853- 

Uekkrweg,  F.     History  of  Philosophy.     2  vols.    Hoddcr  and  Stoughton, 
1872. 

Vaughan,  R.  a.     Hours  with  the  Mystics.     2  vols.     Strahan,  1880. 

William  of  Malmesbury.     Chronicle  of  Kings.     Bohn,  1867. 


CHAPTER  I. 
INTRODUCTORY. 


" '  Old  things  need  not  be  therefore  true,' 
O  brother  men  !  nor  yet  the  new  4 
Ah,  still  awhile  the  old  thought  retain, 
And  yet  consider  it  again. 

"  The  souls  of  now  two  thous£(.nd  years 
Have  laid  uphere  their  toils  and  fears. 
And  all  the  earnings  of  their  pain — 
Ah,  yet  consider  it  again ! 

"  We !  what  do  we  see  ?  each  a  space 
Of  some  few  yards  before,  his  face ; 
Does  that  the  whole  wide  plan  explain  ? 
Ah,  yet  consider  it  again  ! 

"  Alas  !  the  great  world  goes  its  way, 
And  takes  its  truth  from  day  to  day  ; 
They  da  not  quit,  nor  can  retain. 
Far  less  consider  it  again." 

A.  H.  Clough. 


I. 

INTRODUCTORY. 

This  book  is  intended  to  supply  a  brief  and  simple 
account  of  a  portion  of  Christian  History  which  is  not 
properly  understood  by  many.  It  is  encumbered  as 
little  as  possible  with  technical  notes  or  phrases,  that 
the  unlearned  reader  may  not  be  turned  from  its  pages 
by  an  undue  array  of  classical  references  or  quotations. 
It  has  been  written  with  an  earnest  desire  to  estimate 
the  service  done  in  the  cause  of  truth  and  humanity  by 
a  succession  of  Christian  labourers  who  have  never 
received  the  measure  of  appreciation  or  gratitude  which 
is  fairly  their  due.  It  has  been  the  general  habit  of 
writers  in  referring  to  the  Schoolmen  to  treat  them  as 
being  solemn  triflers  with  great  philosophical  or  theo- 
logical questions,  or  as  mere  metaphysical  gymnasts 
who  involved  both  themselves  and  their  contemporaries 
in  a  dense  cloud  of  dust  raised  by  their  interminable 
and  Useless  wranglings.  In  the  usual  public  references 
to  the  Schoolmen  by  preachers  or  lecturers,  and  in  the 
accounts  given  of  them  in  many  text-books  in  use  in 
the  public  schools,  there  is  little  or  no  recognition-  of 
their  devotion,  their  learning,  their  unwearying  industry, 
or  of  the  signal  ser\'ice  they  rendered  to  the  Church  and 
the  world ;  but  it  has  been  considered  sufficient  to  repre- 


4  GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

sent  them  as  a  set  of  men  engaged  in  discussing  by 
ponderous  method  such  fruitless  questions  as,  "  How- 
many  angels  could  dance  on  the  point  of  a  needle  ?  "  or 
"  What  were  the  differences  between  the  morning  and 
evening  states  of  the  angels  ? "  It  is  time  that  this 
lamentable  ignorance  was  dissolved,  and  there  are  not 
wanting  signs  that  the  day  has  come  for  a  fairer  and 
higher  estimate  of  the  great  Schoolmen  to'  take  posses- 
sion of  the  public  mind. 

Why  the  Scholastic  system  should  have  been  stoutly 
opposed  by  IVIartin  Luther  and  the  great  Reformers  of 
the  sixteenth  century  may  be  easily  understood.  In 
the  previous  centuries  Scholasticism  had  been  an  enor- 
mous contributor  to  the  formation  of  a  European  public 
opinion,  which  demanded  a  great  religious  reform  ;  but 
like  all  systems  of  theology  and  philosophy  which 
demand  a  method  by  which  they  can  attain  to  the 
fullest  expression  possible  to  them  in  a  certain  age,  the 
method  having  served  its  temporary  purpose  comes  to 
be  a  clog  and  a  serious  hindrance  to  further  develop- 
ment It  often  therefore  requires  to  be  stript  off  by  a 
firm  hand,  even  though  agony  and  struggle  ensue  in  the 
procesSj  in  order  that,  free  from  swaddling  bands  or 
nurturing- entanglements,  the  truth  may  expand  itself  in 
freedom  and  glory.  The  Reformers  were  led  by  the 
spirit  of  the  times  and  the  exigencies  of  the  contest  in 
their  day  to  declare  war  against  the  methods  and  spirit 
of  the  Schoolmen,  who  had  degenerated  into  vain  and 
frivolous  disputants,  and  v/ho  from  being  the  leaders  of 
the  learning  of  Christendom  were  becoming  objects  of 
contempt  by  the  uselessness  and  pedantry  of  their  dis- 
cussions. But  it  might  have  been  expected  that  v/hert 
a  few  generations^  had  passed  away,  when  the  clang  and 
roll  of  that  gigantic  conflict  had   subsided,  when  men 


INTRODUCTORY.  5 

could  think  calmly,  apart  from  the  violent  collisions  of 
partisans  or  the  din  of  raging  controversy,  they  would 
have  been  able  to  appraise  the  work  of  the  great 
thinkers  of  the  past  with  fairness  if  not  with  generosity. 
This  has  already  been  attained  in  various  departments 
of  human  learning,  but  the  Schoolmen  still  lie  under  a 
load  of  obloquy,  which  has  been  accumulating  for  ages, 
with  only  at  rare  intervals  a  voice  raised  to  protest 
against  it  as  unmerited.  A  philosopher  so  acute  as 
Hobbes  declared  of  their  works  that  "  those  who  wrote 
volumes  of  such  stuff  were  mad,  and  intended  to  make 
others  so."'  A  learned  and  thoughtful  historian  of 
philosophy  like  Brucker'  describes  the  discussions  of 
the  Schoolmen,  although  Hallam  says  he  ha'd  not  read 
their  works,  as  "philosophical  skirmishes  with  the  help 
of  verbal  disputes,  of  worthless  mental  abstractions,  of 
axioms  assumed  at  haphazard,  of  distinctions  destitute 
of  the  smallest  foundation,  and  with  the  horrors  of  a 
barbarous  terminology."  A  church  historian  so  grave, 
trusted,  and  widely  read  as  Mosheim,^  dismissed  them 
with  the  verdict  that  they  were  "  wiser  in  their  own 
conceit  than  they  were  in  reality,  and  often  did  little 
more  than  involve  in  greater  obscurity  the  doctrines 
which  they  pretended  to  place  in  the  clearest  light." 
The  calm,  judicial,  and  generally  impartial  historian  of 
the  Middl  Ages,  Henry  Hallam,*  declares  of  their 
writings  that,  "  so  far  as  he  has  been  able  to  collect 
their  meaning,  they  appear  very  frivolous,"  and  expresses 
great  surprise  that  he  has  found  as  many  as  four 
Englishmen     who     had     given    attention    to    Thomas 

'  Hobbes'  "Leviathan,"  p.  i.  ch.  8. 
*  "  Hist,  of  Phil.,"  p.  ii.  lib.  ii. 
s  "  Eccles.  Hist.,"  i.  339. 
«  "  Europe  in  Middle  Ages,"  684. 


6  GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

Aquinas.  A  writer  of  Church  history  of  such  good 
standing  as  Spanheim/  is  so  unfair  as  to  affirm  that  the 
Schoolmen  omitted  from  their  works  all  authority  from 
Scripture  in  these  words,  "  The  Scholastic  theology  was 
a  compendium  of  divinity  supported  by  the  opinions 
and  authorities  of  the  Fathers,  but  chiefly  by  reason 
and  argument,  the  Scriptures  were  quite  omitted,  while 
the  doctrines  o.f  Christianity  were  reduced  to  quite  a 
heathenish  system."  A  writer  of  such  deservedly  high 
repute  as  the  late  George  Henry  Lewes,''  says  that  he 
thrust  with  "  depressing  weariness  and  impatience  "  their 
works  aside,  because  they  were  "  monstrous  and  lifeless 
shapes  of  a  former  world,  having  little  community  with 
the  life  of  our  own,  they  having  for  us  an  interest  similar 
to  that  yielded  by  the  megatherium  and  the  dinornis." 
In  some  modefrn  books  of  science  no  more  intelligent 
appreciation  is  shown  of  their  work  than  that  they  were 
occupied  with  laborious  discussions  of  childish  and 
frivolous  questions.^  And  the  general  sentiment,  being 
formed  by  such  judgments  as  these,  concludes  that  the 
Schoolmen  are  unworthy  of  notice  except  as,  subjects  of 
satire,  and  that  they  hindered  rather  than  helped  human 
progress. 

It  is  surely  time  for  a  more  sound  judgment  to  be 
formed  concerning  them.  A  few  of  the  most  clear 
and  erudite  of  our  thinkers  entertain  a  far  different 
estimate  of  them,  and  in  proportion  as  they  have  been 
qualified  to  render  distinguished  service  in  the  cause  of 
a  lofty  philosophy,  they  have  been  disposed  to  appre- 
ciate highly  the  work  offered  to  the  world  by  these 
great    men.      A  few  testimonies   will   show   what  an 

*  "  Eccles.  Annals,"  translated  by  Wright,  408. 
'  "  History  of  Phil.,"  Trans.  Period,  i.  3. 
'  Tail's  "  Lect.  on  Recent  Science,"  54. 


INTRODUCTORY.  7 

exalted  opinion  they  have  won  from  those  who  have 
most  attentively  considered  their  productions. 

Sir'  W.  Hamilton,  in  all  his  works,  makes  frequent 
reference  to  them  in  words  of  generous  appreciation. 
In  reply  to  the  assertion  of  Archbishop  Whately,  that 
the  Schoolmen  misunderstood  the  nature  of  logic,  using 
it  simply  as  an  instrument  in  making  physical  dis- 
coveries, and  whilst  beclouding  everything  with  a  mist 
of  words,  excluded  all  sound  philosophical  investiga- 
tion, he  says : — 

"  'It  has  long  been  the  fashion  to  attribute  every  absurdity  to 
the  Schoolmen ;  it  is  only  when  a  man  of  talent  like  Dr. 
Whately  follows  the  example  that  a  contradiction  is  worth 
while.  The  Schoolmen  (w6  except  always  such  eccentric 
individuals  as  Raymond  LuUy)  had  correcter  notions  of  the 
domain  of  logic  than  those  who  now  contemn  them  without  a 
knowledge  of  their  works.  They  certainly  did  not  attempt 
to  employ  it  for  the  purpose  of  physical  discoveries.  We 
pledge  ourselves  to  refute  the  accusation  whenever  any  effort 
is  made  to  prove  it ;  till  then  we  must  be  allowed  to  treat  it 
as  a  groundless,  though  a  common,  calumny."  ^ 

Perhaps  no  modern  writer  has  succeeded  in  com- 
bining sound  learning  and  correctness  of  judgment  with 
discriminating  criticism  more  happily  than  Sir  James 
Mackintosh,  and  this  gives  his  testimony  a  peculiar 
value.     He  says  : — 

"  Those  who  measure  only  by  palpable  results  have  very 
consistently  regarded  the  Metaphysical  and  Theological  con- 
troversies of  the  schools  as  a  mere  waste  of  intellectual 
power.  But  the  contemplation  of  the  athletic  vigour  and 
versatile  skill  manifested  by  the  European  understanding,  at 
the  moment  when  it  emerged  from  this  tedious  and  rugged 
discipline,  leads,  if  not  to  •  approbation,  yet  to  more  qualified 
censure.     What  might  have  been  the  result  of  a  different  com- 


1  « 


Discussions,"  etc,  148. 


8  GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

bination  of  circumstances  is  an  enquiry  which,  on  a  large  scale, 
is  beyond  human  power.  We  may,  however,  venture  to  say, 
that  no  abstract  science  unconnected  with  religion  was  likely  to 
be  respected  in  a  barbarous  age,  and  we  may  be  allowed  to 
doubt  whether  any  knowledge  dependent  on  experience  and 
applicable  to  immediate  practice,  would  have  so  trained  the 
European  mind  as  to  quz^ify  it  for  that  series  of  inventions, 
discoveries,  and  institutions  which  begins  with  the  sixteenth 
century,  and  of  which  no  end  can  now  be  foreseen  but  the 
extinction  of  the  race  of  man."  ^ 

It  might  have  been  expected  that  the  eclectic  mind 
of  the  late  Professor  Maurice  vi^ould  not  have  found  in 
the  Schoolmen  much  that  was  congenial  to  him,  al- 
though it  was,  of  course,  to  have  been  concluded  that 
he  would  treat  them  with  the  candour  so  eminently 
characteristic  of  his  nature.  Like  all  those  who  have 
devoted  much  attention  to  their  writings,  he  speaks  of 
them  throughout  his  history  of  the  mediaeval  intellectual 
movement  with  frank  and  cordial  esteem.  Many  quo- 
tations in  illustration  of  this  fact  might  be  given,  but 
this  paragraph  concerning  Thomas  Aquinas  will  be 
sufficient : — 

**  A  time  may  be  coming  when  it  will  be  possible  to  derive 
more  good  from  Aquinas  than  any  age  has  owed  to  him,  be- 
cause we  are  free  from  his  trammels,  and  have  learned  to  walk 
at  liberty  under  higher  guidance.  Protestant  Europe  may  even 
yet  do  him  a  justice  which  cannot  be  done  him  by  those  who 
dread  lest  he  should  make  them  sceptics,  or  who  sit  at  his  feet 
and  receive  his  words  as  those  of  one  who  understood  all 
mystery  and  all  knowledge.  Meanwhile  we  will  do  what  in  us 
lies  to  give  our  readers  some  conception  of  the  comprehensive- 
ness of  his  intellect,  as  we  have  already  attempted  to  give  them 
a  glimpse  of  its  subtlety."  ^ 

One  who  has  attained  unrivalled  theological  reputa- 

'  "  Works,"  i.,  48,  9. 

2  "  Mor.  &  Met.  Phil.,"  i.,  616. 


INTRODUCTORY.  9 

tion  within  his  own  denomination,  and  who,  whilst 
preserving  himself  within  the  strictesc  lines  of  British 
orthodoxy,  has  yet  steeped  his  mind  in  the  treasures 
of  the  German  theology,  has  borne  the  following  fair 
and  modest  testimony  to  the  service  rendered  to 
Christendom  by  the  School : — 

"  The  Scholastic  Divinity  in  the  universities  of  Christendom 
wrpught  up  the  materials  it  inherited  into  systematic  forms, 
which  carried  dialectic  subtlety  and  philosophical  speculation 
to  their  highest  point.  By  the  toil  of  many  indefatigable 
minds,  it  laid  the  foundation  of  the  complete  system  of  Roman 
Catholicism  as  formulated  in  the  Council  of  Trent ;  while  at 
the  same  time  it  transmitted  its  method  to  Protestantism,  the 
first  century  of  which  almost  rivalled  the  work  of  the  mediaeval 
doctors  in  analytical  severity  and  completeness.  Whatever 
deductions  may  be  made  from  the  value  of  its  results,  the 
Christian  Church  owes  very  much  to  the  industry  and  devotion 
of  the  Schoolmen.  Systematic  theology  had  its  origin  in  their 
labours."  ^ 

One  more  extract  from  British  authors  only  will  be 
given,  and  that  from  one  than  whom  none  had  more 
right  to  speak,  if  intimate  knowledge  of  the  Schoolmen, 
profound  If^arntng,  and  calm  philosophic  temper,  con- 
stitute a  claim  to  be  heard  on  such  a  subject.  Speaking 
of  the  Scholastic  system,  he  says  : — 

"  I  only  wonder  that  it  has  not  attracted  more  notice  than  it 
has  hitherto  obtained  We  meet  indeed  with  some  incidental 
remarks  in  works  of  philosophy  or  theology  on  the  theoretic 
character  of  the  system.  But  with  these  remarks  it  is  usually 
dismissed  as  a  method  long  gone  by,  which  has  had  its  day 
and  is  now  extinci;,  and  remams  only  a  monument  of  frivolous 
ingenuity,  to  be  neglected  and  despised  by  the  more  enlightened 
wisdom  of  the  present  day.  But  surely  a  pursuit  in  which  the 
human  mind  has  been  so  long  engaged,  and  which  has  thus,  as 
an  indisputable  matter  of  fact,  educated  the  human  intellect  of 

'  Pope,  "Compend.  of  Theol.,"  i.,  21. 


10  GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

the  West  for  the  larger  views  and  more  elevated  thoughta 
and  more  masculine  vigour  of  modern  science  and  modern 
theology,  demands  more  respect,  more  serious  consideration. 
If  it  supplied,  which  it  undoubtedly  did,  the  elements  of  our 
present  improvement,  the  stocic  of  principles  of  which  the 
Refonnation,  both  religious  and  intellectual,  of  the  sixteenth 
century  availed  itself— to  which  the  Reformation  was  forced  to 
address  itself,  whose  language  it  was  forced  to  adopt  in  order 
to  be  understood  and  received — neither  the  historian  of  the 
human  mind  nor  the  student  of  religion  ought  to  leave  this 
track  of  enquiry  unexplored.  The  scholastic  philosophy,  in 
fact,  lies  between  us  at  our  present  station  in  the  world,  and 
the  immediate  diffusion  of  truth  from  heaven,  as  *  the  morning 
spread  on  the  mountains,'  an  atmosphere  of  mist  through  which 
the  early  beams  of  Divine  light  have  been  transfused.  It  has 
giveYi  the  celestial  rays  a  divergency  whilst  it  has  transmitted 
them,  and  by  the  multiplicity  of  its  reflections  made  them 
indistinct  as  to  their  origin."  ^ 

No  modern  writer  has  treated  Scholasticism  in  a 
more  genial  and  appreciative  spirit  than  Victor  Cousin, 
the  patriot  philosopher  of  France.^  He  divides  the 
history  of  Scholasticism  into  three  periods,  (i)  that  of 
the  subordination  of  philosophy  to  theology,  (2)  the 
alliance  of  philosophy  with  theology,  (3)  the  -growing 
separation,  feeble  at  first,  but  which  increases  until  it 
produces  modern  philosophy.  In  treating  of  these 
periods  he  passes  the  leading  Schoolmen  in  review 
with  generous  and  glowing  criticism,  and  points  out 
how  on  nearly  every  great  question  of  controversy  in 
modern  philosophy  they  had  anticipated  such  leaders 
of  thought  as  Descartes,  Berkeley,  Locke,  Reid,  and 
others. 

The  statesman  historian  of  France  has  also  written 
concerning  them  in  candid  phrase  : — 

*'  We  find  in  them  many  vast  and  original  views ;  questions 

*  Hamiiden,  "  Bamp.  Lect.,"  8. 

*  "  History  of  Modern  Philosophy,"  ii.,  12. 


INTRODUCTORY,  ii 

are  often  solved  by  them  in  their  profoundest  depths;  the  light 
of  philosophical  truth,  of  literary  beauty,  shines  out  each  instant. 
The  vein  is  covered  in  the  mine,  but  it  contains  much  metal, 
and  deserves  to  be  worked."  ' 

In  Germany  the  writings  and  influence  of  the  School- 
men have  received  much  fairer  and  more  general 
consideration  than  has  been  accorded  them  by  British 
writers.  Thus,  Hagenbach  supplies  several  testimonies, 
which  are  the  more  valuable  as  coming  from  a  country 
which  has  produced  so  many  of  the  most  renowned 
metaphysicians  of  modern  Europe.      He  says:  — 

"  As  early  as  the  time  of  Semler  complaints  were  made  of 
the  imjust  treatment  which  the  scholastic  divines  had  to  suffer. 
Semler  himself  says  :  '  The  poor  scholastici  have  been  too  much 
despised,  and  that  frequently  by  people  who  would  not  have 
been  good  enough  to  be  their  transcribers.'  And  Luther 
himself  wrote  to  Staupitz,  though  he  contributed  much  to  the 
downfall  of  scholasticism  :  '  Ego  Scholasticos,  cum  judicio,  non 

clausts  oculis.  lego Non  rejicio  omnio  eoru7n,sed7iec  omnia 

probe' "^ 

The  following  extracts  arc  also  quoted  by  Hagen- 
bach : — 

"Scholasticism  is  the  progress  of  the  Church  towards  a 
school,  or,  as  Hegel  expresses  it,  though  in  other  words,  the 
Fathers  have  made  the  Church  because  the  mind,  once 
developed,  required  a  developed  doctrine ;  in  after  ages  there 
were  no  more  patres  ecdesice,  but  dodores.  The  theologians  of 
the  primitive  Church  had  to  create  the  material,  or  to  expound 
that  which  was  expressed  in  its  simplest  and  most  direct  form 
in  the  Christian  dogma ;  they  had  further  to  set  forth  this 
material  in  distinct  doctrines  and  formulre,  to  present  it  to  the 
religious  world,  and  to  procure  its  general  adoption.  Scholas- 
ticism, on  the  contrary,  presupposed  all  this.  The  material 
and   the  contents  were  given  ;    it  now  became  the  task   of 

•  Guizot,  "  Cours  d'Hist.  Mod.,"  i.,  220. 
»  "Hist,  of  Doct.,"  i.,  426. 


12  GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

theologians  to  effect  a  reunion  between  that  which,  having 
acquired  the  nature  of  an  object  (in  relation  to  the  mind)  had 
been  subsequently  separated  from  it,  and  the  mind  itself — a 
union  such  as  would  constitute  a  subjective  union."  ^ 

The  well-known  .Church  historian,  Ullman,  offers  a 
highly  commendatory  estimate  of  the  work  accomplished 
by  these  great  thinkers.     He  says  : — 

"  The  scholastic  theology  was  in  its  commencement  a  truly 
scientific  advance  upon  the  past,  in  its  entire  course  a  great 
dialectic  preparatory  school  of  Christianity  in  the  West,  in  its 
completion  a  grand  and  highly-finished  production  of  the 
humaa  mind."^ 

If  other  testimony  were  required  from  Germany,  that 
of  the  erudite,  judicial,  and  judicious  Neander  might 
be  given.  The  eighth  volume  of  his  "Church  History" 
is  largely  devoted  to  a  careful  consideration  of  the  pro- 
ductions of  the  Schoolmen  ;  and  not  only  by  frequent 
praise  of  the  results  of  their  patient  and  profound 
labours,  but  by  his  own  careful  and  minute  study  of 
their  works,  he  shows  the  high  estimation  in  which  he 
held  them,  and  demonstrates  how  largely  they  influenced 
the  philosophical  and  theological  thought  of  Christen- 
dom. 

Such  are  a  few  of  the  witnesses  who  might  be 
adduced  as  evidence  that  the  Schoounen  are  worthy  of 
a  higher  estimate  and  a  more  cordial  greeting"  than  they 
have  generally  been  accorded,  and  testifying  that  their 
services  are  more  highly  valued  as  they  are  better  under- 
stood. If  anything  further  were  necessary  to  show  that 
the  time  has  come  for  them  to  be  treated  with  more 
signal  favour,  and  that  they  are  beginning  to  assert  for 
themselves  a  right  to  a  larger  measure  of  public  atten- 

•  Eaur,  quoted  in  Hagenbach,  i.,  426.  ^  Ibid. 


INTRO  D  UC  TOR  Y.  1 3 

tion,  it  may  be  found  in  the  fact  that  such  a  work 
as  the  careful,  elaborate,  and  sympathetic  defence  of 
Thomas  Aquinas  should  be  issued  to  the  public,  as  has 
recently  appeared  from  the  pen  of  a  member  of  the 
Society  of  Jesus,  and  which  is  to  fill  five  large  octavo 
volumes,^  and  also  that  in  Paris  of  late  years  a  beau- 
tiful issue  of  the  Stunma  TJveologice,  in  eight  closely 
printed  octavo  volumes,  has  passed  through  several 
editions. 

This  book,  then,  humbly  seeks  to  aid  in  the  reversal 
of  the  general  verdict  of  condemnation  passed  on  the 
Schoolmen,  and  to  offer  some  evidence  that  as  men 
they  were  devout,  liberal,  and  earnest ;  that  as  writers 
and  thinkers  they  were  learned,  subtle,  penetrating,  and 
logical;  and  that  as  contributors  to  the  philosophical 
and  theological  thought  of  Christendom  they  aided 
enormously  the  cause  of  human  progress.  Ail  this 
may  be  made  to  appear,  and  even  more  than  this, 
without  one  word  of  defence  being  offered  in  behalf  of 
the  trivialities  which  mar  the  works  of  some  of  the 
inferior  Schoolmen,  or  of  the  huge  system  of  spiritual 
and  intellectual  despotism  which  environed  them,  and 
under  which  ^h^y  were  born  and  disciplined, 

'  Harper,  "  The  Metaphysic  of  the  School."    Macmillan,  1879. 


CHAPTER    II. 
THE  RENAISSANCE  UNDER  CHARLEMAGNE. 


"  To-day  I  saw  the  dragon-fly 
Come  from  the  wells  -A'here  he  did  lie. 

"  An  inner  impulse  rent  the  veil 
Of  his  old  husk  ;  from  head  to  tail 
Came  out  clear  plates  of  sapphire  mail. 

"  lie  dried  his  wings :  like  gauze  tney  grew  : 
Through  crofts  and  pastures  wet  with  dew, 
A  living  flash  of  light  he  flew." 

— TEN>!ysoiv'. 


II. 

THE  RENAISSANCE   UNDER  CHARLEMAGNE. 

The  accession  of  Charlemagne  as  king  of  the  Franks 
was  the  beginning  of  a  new  epoch   in   the   history  of 
Europe.     The  young  monarch  found  himself  the  ruler 
of  an  extensive  territory  stretching  from  the  Loire  to 
the  east  of  the  Rhine,  including  Burgundy  and  Alle- 
mania;   whilst  entirely   encircling  his  kingdom    was   a 
chain    of   vassal    nations.      Nor   did   this    comprise  all 
the  responsibility  which  his  inheritance  involved.     The 
Franks  had  already  become  the  powerful  patrons  and 
protectors    of   the    Church,   guarding   the    Popes    from 
the     violence    of    Greeks    and     Lombards,    protecting 
Christianity  from  the  ravages  of  the   Saracens  on   the 
south-west,  and   from  the  rapacity  of  the  Saxons,  still 
pagan,  on  the  north-east.      Charles  found  his  kingdom 
already    assuming    the     position    of   governor    of    the 
German    nations,    and    as    having    become   the  strong 
bulwark  of  the  Western  Church.      He  was  thus  placed 
in  circumstances  requiring  both  an  indomitable  energy 
and  the  rarest  faculty  of  government.      Whatever  the 
position  demanded  he  was  able  to  bring  to  it.     No  man 
ever  more  exactly  suited  his  environments  or  fitted  his 
hour   than   he  did.      The  historian    Gibbon   has    truly 
said  that  of  all  the  heroes  to  whom  the  title  of  "  Great "' 

2 


1 8  GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

has  been  given,  he  alone  has  retained  it  as  a  permanent 
addition  to  his  name.  Nor  is  the  reason  for  this  far 
to  seek.  Few  men,  if  indeed  any,  have  united  in  so 
large  a  degree  the  qualities  which  combine  to  constitute 
a  hero,  and  in  no  man  were  they  ever  more  skilfully 
fused  so  as  to  form  a  noble  personality.  He  was 
possessed  of  boundless  energy;  he  had  a  lofty  ambi- 
tion ;  he  had  an  intense  craving  for  various  knowledges ; 
he  had  a  happy  social  nature;  he  had  a  refined  taste 
and  an  exalted  fancy;  he  seems  to  have  united  a  robust 
body  to  a  vigorous  mind;  he  had  a  marvellous  power 
of  winning  men  to  himself,  and  an  exquisite  skill  in 
governing  them,  so  as  to  make  them  contribute  to  his 
great  aims  and  purposes.  Thus  he  was  able  to  trans- 
form the  military  power  of  the  Franks,  which  he  found 
rude  and  raw,  though  immense,  into  an  organized, 
disciplined,  and  far-reaching  dominion;  he  extended  his 
kingdom  until  it  became  an  aggregation  of  kingdoms, 
and  he  was  crowned  emperor  of  Rome,  But  as  a 
higher  achievement  still,  he  laboured  assiduously  to 
engraft  a  Christian  culture  on  the  fresh  vigorous  nations 
of  the  north  just  awaking  from  barbarism,  and  to  esta- 
blish, on  broad  and  lasting  foundations,  learning  and 
philosophy. 

If  Charlemagne  did  not  succeed  in  attaining  all  he 
purposed  in  these  directions,  it  was  because  one  lifetime 
was  too  short  for  the  accomplishment  of  so  great  a 
design  ;  but  bis  reign  became  the  starting  point  of  a 
new  intellectual  life  in  Europe,  and  from  his  assiduous 
efforts  flowed  new  streams  of  knowledge,  bearing  to 
future  ages  freight  of  untold  preciousness. 

In  the  disintegration  of  the  Roman  Empire,  it  was 
in  some  respects  unfortunate  for  Europe  that  there 
existed    no    great   power    sufficient    to    conquer,    and 


THE  REI^AISSANCE  UNDER  CHARLEMAGNE.         19 

then  to  reorganize  its  gigantic  parts.  It  was  overrun 
by  wild,  fierce,  disconnected  tribes,  none  of  which  had 
risen  to  an  understanding  of  statesmanship  or  poHtical 
life,  and  all  of  which  combined  to  render  more  awful 
the  collapse  of  moral  and  intellectual  order  which 
ensued.  At  the  accession  of  Charlemagne  that  collapse 
was  complete.  Fleury  places  the  lowest  depth  to  which 
the  European  mind  has  sunk  in  modern  times  in  the 
century  previous  to  the  rise  of  the  Germanic  Empire, 
and  both  Guizot  and  Hallam  concur  in  this  judgment.' 
It  was  the  arrest  of  progressive  culture  throughout 
Europe  which  caused  so  deep  a  shadow  to  rest  upon 
the  seventh  century.  It  vvas  indeed  a  catastrophe 
which  swallowed  up  the  existing  state  of  things,  but 
out  of  which  would  emerge  in  course  of  time  an  economy 
framed  after  a  nobler  type. 

The  Church  had  partaken  of  the  general  degradation. 
It  had  been  diverted  from  its  nobler  aims  and  its  higher 
life  by  a  long  distracting  struggle  concerning  the  worship 
of  images,  and  had  temporarily  settled  the  dispute  by 
the  edict  of  the  second  Council  of  Nicea.  Unfortunately 
for  the  cause  of  Christianity,  the  Pope  and  the  monks 
triumphed,  and  as  the  result  of  their  victory  Christendom 
was  filled  with  the  worship  of  images,  the  invocation  of 
saints,  pretended  miraculous  cures,  and  worse  than  this, 
became  the  victim  of  a  clamorous  demand  for  uniformity 
of  faith,  which  arose  from  the  clerical  orders, — a  demand 
which,  although  never  fully  attained,  was  the  occasion 
of  bitter  and  virulent  persecutions,  which  in  their  pro- 
longed attempts  to  extirpate  heretics  and  heathens  made 
the  persecutors  many  times  worse  than  either.  The 
doctrines  of  the  Church  were  thus  seriously  endangered 
and  corrupted ;  those  doctrines  now  received  as  evange- 
^  Note  A,  end  of  chapter. 


20  GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

Heal,  to  the  revival  of  which  the  Reformation  owes  its 
brightness,  were  neutralised  by  the  teaching  that  an 
offended  Deity  might  be  appeased  by  voluntary  acts  of 
mortification,  by  large  donations  to  the  Church,  or  by 
an  appeal  to  the  superfluous  n^erits  of  the  saints.  Thus 
the  obligations  of  morality  were  loosened,  men  indulged 
in  sin  with  a  feeling  of  security,  believing  that  by  the 
intercession  of  saints,  or  by  the  influence  of  their  priests 
in  the  heavenly  court,  they  might  obtain  forgiveness  of 
their  sins  and  entrance  to  the  paradise  of  God. 

Amidst  such  influences  learning  sank  to  the  lowest 
point,  and  the  spirit  of  enquiry  was  almost  extinct.  It 
is  true  that  in  some  Irish  monasteries  there  was  pre- 
served a  shining  flame  of  piety  and  learning,  which 
was  destined  to  kindle  a  similar  light  in  other  places 
and  in  succeeding  generations;  and  at  Jarrow,  in  the 
county  of  Durham,  the  Venerable  Bede,  by  his  stainless 
piety  and  ardent  love  of  knowledge,  redeemed  the 
English  Chufch  from  entire  barrenness;  but  as  com- 
pared with  the  earlier  centuries  of  the  history  of 
Christianity,  which  are  ablaze  with  the  distinguished 
names  of  Origen,  Jerome,  Augustine,  Basil,  Athanasius, 
Chrysostom,  the  Gregories,  and  a  brilliant  line  of  others 
scarcely  inferior  to  these,  the  seventh  and  eighth 
centuries  arc  characterised  by  mournful  sterility  of 
sanctified  erudition  and  of  loyal  devotion  on  the  altar 
of  Christ. 

Outside  of  Christendom  there  were  signs  of  a  revival 
of  learning.  They  first  became  visible  amongst  the 
Arabian  intruders  into  Europe.  When  the  Arabs  first 
emerged  from  their  desert  retreats  under  the  caliphate 
of  Abubeker,  and  submerged  beneath  their  overwhelming 
hordes  the  Greek  empire,  they  were  destitute  of  any 
literature   save    some   fugitive  national   poetiy,   which, 


THE  RENAISSANCE  UNDER  CHARLEMAGNI-.  21 

like  the  poetry  of  semi-barbarous  peoples,  had  little 
to  commend  it  except  passionate  emotion  and  fervid 
imagery.  Of  science  they  were  entirely  ignorant,  except 
a  slight  tincture  of  astrology  preserved  from  ancient 
times,  and  nursed  by  shepherds  in  their  nightly  vigils. 
The  fervent  and  idolatrous  attachment  tl.ey  cultivated 
for  the  Koran  overbore  all  concern  for  other  productions 
of  the  human  intellect,  and  made  them  the  insane 
incendiaries  of  ancient  literature.  Thus  when  Omar 
burnt  the  priceless  treasures  of  the  library  of  Alexandria, 
he  justified  his  demoniacal  Vandalism  by  saying  that 
"  what  agreed  with  the  Koran  was  unnecessary,  and 
what  did  not  was  pernicious." 

Intercourse  with  the  Christians  of  Syria  awoke  in  the 
Arab  marauders  a  taste  for  knowledge.  The  Greeks, 
even  in  their  fall,  ruled  the  intellect  of  the  world,  and 
their  literature  was  largely  translated  into  the  Syrian 
tongue.  Syriac  and  Arabic  were  languages  nearly 
related,  and  Syrian  physicians  waited  upon  the  Caliph 
Al  Walid  {ob.  71  i),  and  urged  upon  him  their  counsel 
so  strongly,  that  he  issued  an  order  that  from  hence- 
forth books  were  to  be  published  in  Arabic  and  no 
longer  in  Greek.  Almanzor  cherished  a  love  for  science, 
and  especially  for  astronomy,  and  by  his  example  and 
influence  gave  a  great  impulse  to  the  pursuit  of  scientific 
studies  throughout  his  empire,  Haroun  Al  Raschid, 
who  represents  the  golden  age  of  Arabian  empire, 
rejoiced  to  encourage  literature  of  every  kind  ;  and 
his  son,  Almamun  {pb.  813),  sought  most  assiduously, 
and  with  overflowing  generosity,  to  forward  the  cultiva- 
tion of  learning. 

In  this  early  spread  of  knowledge  the  Arabians 
were  almost  exclusively  occupied  with  the  phj'sical 
sciences.      True  to  Oriental   traditions,  they  reverenced 


22  GREA  T  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

the  stars  ;  they  cultivated  mathematics  and  geometry. 
Almamun  collected  books  of  science  from  all  the  sur- 
rounding nations,  from  Persia,  Greece,  Egypt,  Syna. 
Chaldea,  and  Armenia  ;  he  employed  the  most  experi- 
enced scholars  to  translate  them  ;  he  held  discussions 
with  these  on  all  hard  questions,  and  diffused  on  every 
side  of  him  an  ardent  and  healthy  desire  for  know- 
ledge. The  result  was  gratifying  and  even  amazing^ 
the  Arabs,  still  virtuous  in  habit  and  not  over  intoxi- 
cated by  their  immense  military  successes,  took  a 
mighty  bound  forward  in  civilization  ;  they  pursued 
the  various  sciences  with  avidity  ;  they  appropriated 
the  classic  stores  they  inherited  from  the  ancients,  and 
added  largely  to  them.  The  spirit  of  learning  spread 
quickly  to  the  new  Caliphates  of  Spain  and  Morocco, 
and  these  also  became  centres  of  intellectual  influence. 
The  industry  of  the  Arabian  scholars  was  unparalleled, 
and  their  progress  marvellously  rapid. 

Quickly,  signs  of  an  awakening  intellectual  spirit 
were  discovered  in  other  quarters.  Egbert,  an  intimate 
friend  and  disciple  of  the  Venerable  Bede,  had  been 
appointed  to  superintend  the  School  of  York,  and  here 
gave  instruction  in  the  sciences  and  lectured  on  the 
study  of  the  Bible  and  the  early  Fathers  of  the  Church. 
He  formed  a  library  also,  consisting  of  the  writings  of 
the  most  eminent  early  Church  Fathers,  and  the 
classical  writers  of  antiquity.  This  School  produced 
one  who  rose  to  be  the  most  eminent  teacher  of  his 
times,  Alcuin,  afterwards  the  friend  and  tutor  of  the 
Emperor  Charlemagne.  He  became  the  master  of  the 
celebrated  School  of  York,  which  rose  under  his 
management  to  be  the  greatest  centre  of  learning  in 
the  north  of  England.  Students  flocked  to  him  from 
all  parts  of  the  kingdom,  and  he  affectionately  laboured 


rilE  RENAISSANCE  UNDER  CHARLEMAGNE.  23 

amongst  them  until  he  was  summoned  to  the  nobler 
task  of  aiding  to  mould  the  intellectual  future  of 
Europe,  and  of  guiding  the  reform  of  the  Church  under 
the  patronage  of  Charlemagne.  It  was  in  this  great 
and  noble  king  that  the  advancing  spirit  of  the  times 
found  its  highest  expression  ;  he  was  the  incarnation 
of  the  renaissance  ;  his  court  became  the  focus  in 
which  were  collected  from  the  monasteries  of  Ireland, 
the  schools  of  England,  the  conventual  retreats  of 
Italy  and  Spain,  all  who  signalised  themselves  by- 
genius  and  learning.  He  laboured  earnestly  to  excite 
a  spirit  of  progress  throughout  his  dominions  ;  he 
encouraged  the  pursuit  of  science  in  every  city  ;  he 
issued  a  circular  letter  to  the  bishops  and  abbots  in 
all  the  dioceses  of  his  realm,  urging  them  to  increased 
study,  and  especially  to  seek  to  understand  more  per- 
fectly the  mysteries  of  the  Holy  Scriptures.^ 

Amongst  the  learned  men  who  filled  the  court  of 
this  great  monarch,  Alcuin  shone  with  such  distin- 
guished lustre  as  to  justify  a  longer  notice  than  need  be 
given  to  others.  In  the  year  780  he  was  despatched 
by  the  Archbishop  of  York  on  a  mission  to  the  court 
of  Rome,  and  at  Parma  he  was  introduced  to  the 
notice  of  Chai-lemagne.  The  king  invited  him  to  his 
court,  and  offered  him  the  management  of  the  schools 
he  was  engaged  in  establishing  throughout  his  domi- 
nions. Before  he  would  consent  to  accept  the  flatter- 
ing invitation,  he  returned  home  to  seek  permission 
from  the  king  and  the  Archbishop  of  York  ;  and  on 
obtaining  leave  from  them,  he  accepted  the  call  to 
France,  and  wrote  an  adieu  to  the  scenes  and  friends  of 
his  former  years  which  vibrated  with  ardent  affection 
and  refined  sentiment.  The  following  lines,  written  on 
^  Neander,  "  Church  History,"  v.  199. 


r 


24  GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

leaving  the  hallowed  shade  of  his  quiet  retreat  at  York 
for  the  busy  engagements  of  his  larger  sphere,  will  give 
an  idea  of  the  tender  sensibility  of  his  soul : — 

"  O  my  loved  cell,  sweet  dwelling  of  my  soul ! 
Must  I  for  ever  say,  dear  spot,  farewell  ? 
Round  thee  their  shades  the  sounding  branches  spread 
A  little  wood  with  flowerino  honours  gay  ; 
The  blooming"  meadows  wave  their  healthy  herbs, 
Which  hands  experienced  cull  to  serve  mankind. 
By  thee,  'mid  flowery  bani<.s  the  waters  glide 
Where  the  glad  fishermen  their  nets  extend  ; 
Thy  gardens  shine  with  apple-bending  boughs, 
Where  the  white  lilies  mingle  with  the  rose  ; 
Their  morning  hymns  the  feathered  tribes  resound, 
And  warble  sweet  their  great  Creator's  praise. 
Dear  cell  !  in  thee  my  tutor's  gentle  voice 
The  love  of  sacred  wisdom  often  urged  ; 
In  thee  at  stated  times  the  Thunderer's  praise 
My  heart  and  voice  witn  eager  tribute  paid. 
Loved  cell !  with  tearful  songs  I  shall  lament  thee, 
With  moaning  breast  I  shall  regret  thy  charms  ; 
No  more  thy  poets'  lay  thy  shades  will  cheer, 
No  more  will  Homer  or  thy  Fiaccus  hail  thee  ; 
No  more  my  boys  beneath  thy  roof  will  sing, 
But  unknown  hands  thy  solitudes  possess. 
Thus  suddjen  fades  the  glory  of  the  age, 
Thus  all  things  vanish  in  perpetual  change. 
Nought  rests  eternal  or  immutable  : 
The  gloomy  night  obscures  the  sacred  day  ; 
The  chilling  winter  plucks  fair  autunm's  flowers ; 
Tlie  moui*nful  storm  the  placid  sea  confounds  ; 
Youth  chases  wild  the  palpitating  stag, 
While  age  incumbent  totters  on  its  staff. 
Ah  !  wretched  we  !  who  love  thee,  fickle  world  ! 
Thou  flyest  our  grasp  and  hurriest  us  to  ruin."  ' 

On  Alcuin's  removal  to  France,  Charlemagne  bestowed 
on  him   the  two  monasteries  of  Troyes  and   Ferrieres, 

'  S.  Turner,  "  Hist,  of  Anglo-Saxons,"  vol.  iii,,  p.  335. 


IHE  RENAISSANCE  UNDER  CHARLEMAGNE.  25 

with  the  double  object  of  providing  for  him  a  suitable 
revenue,  and  of  procuring  through  his  training  a  body 
of  educated  monks.  But  he  especially  confided  to 
him  the  management  of  a  university  in  ovo,  which  he 
had  established  for  the  higher  education  of  the  youth 
about  the  court,  and  which  was  called  the  Schola 
Palatina.  Alcuin  was  in  constant  communication  with 
the  king  and  his  statesmen  ;  his  judgment  was  sought 
upon  all  important  matters  of  Church  and  State  ;  he 
even  imparted  instruction  in  rhetoric,  logic,  mathe- 
matics, and  divinity  to  his  great  patron,  who  was  not 
ashamed  to  call  him  his  "  dearest  teacher  in  Christ."  ^ 

The  Latin  version  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  then  in 
common  use  was  rapidly  becoming  unintelligible  through 
the  ignorance  and  carelessness,  perhaps  also  through  the 
wilful  perversions,  of  transcribers.  With  the  penetra- 
tion of  a  true  reformer,  Charlemagne  perceived  how 
important  it  was,  for  the  sake  of  the  general  interests 
of  learning  and  for  the  welfare  of  the  Church,  that 
the  Sacred  Text  should  be  purified  from  errors  and 
restored  to  its  integrity.  He  commissioned  Alcuin  to 
undertake  the  great  work  of  collating  copies  and 
revising  the  text — a  task  to  which  the  learned  monk 
brought  a  careful  conscientiousness  and  a  devout  feeling. 
It  was  his  felicity  when  congratulating  Charlemagne 
on  receiving  the  imperial  crown,  to  present  him  with  a 
copy  of  the  Bible  thus  edited  and  revised  by  himself. 
He  gave  eight  years  of  splendid  service  to  France 
engaged  in  these  numerous  and  onerous  tasks,  and 
besides  these  he  wrote  forcibly  in  defence  of  the 
orthodox  faith  against  the  Adoptionists,  engaging  in 
a  six  days'  discussion  with  Felix,  bishop  of  Urgel,  at 
Aix  la  Chapelle,  with  the  result  of  his  adversary- 
»  "  Carissime  in  Christo  praeceptor."     Ep.  of  .\Icuin,  124. 


26  GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

declaring  himself  convinced  of  his  error ;  and  was 
employed  by  his  royal  friend  in  several  important 
missions  to  Ofifa,  king  of  Mercia.  He  led  a  busy  life, 
being  constantly  engaged  in  composing  poetry,  which 
showed  much  tenderness  and  piety  of  mind,  collecting 
and  collating  manuscripts, .  teaching  a  wide  range  of 
science  and  philosophy,  and  exciting  the  large  circle 
within  his  influence  to  the  ardent  pursuit  of  learning. 
In  790  he  visited  his  native  land,  and  remained  there 
two  years  ;  then  he  returned  to  France  and  resumed 
his  beneficent  labours  till  801,  when  he  obtained -leave 
to  retire  from  the  court  to  the  quiet  retreat  of  the 
Abbey  of  St.  Martin  at  Tours.  There  he  rested, 
though  not  in  idleness,  till  his  death.  He  still  taught 
as  his  strength  permitted  ;  he  maintained  a  constant 
correspondence  with  Charlemagne,  which  manifests  an 
ardent  love  of  learning,  a  profound  spirit  of  devotion, 
and  an  intense  desire  for  the  promotion  of  the  great 
purposes  in  relation  to  intellectual  progress  to  which 
his  life  had  been  devoted.  He  entered  the  heavenly 
rest,  May  19th,  804.  "He  was  a  burning  and  a 
shining  light,"  and  happy  were  they  who,  in  that 
restless  warring,  semi-barbarous  age,  were  content  for 
a  season  to  abide  in  his  light. .  His  work  was  the 
highest  that  could  have  been  committed  to  human 
hand.  It  was  the  civilization  of  a  kingdom  ;  it  was  to 
aid  in  the  renaissance  of  learning  for  Christendom  , 
and  his  was  the  noble  achievement  of  connecting  the 
intellect  of  Britain  with  that  of  Western  Europe. 
The  result  of  the  work  accomplished  by  him  and  his 
royal  master  was  that  France  passed  by  a  quick 
transition  from  a  state  of  semi-barbarism  into  one  of 
coinpa'iative  culture  ;  it  became  impressed  with  a 
pre-eminence  of    refinement   amongst    the    nations    of 


THE  RENAISSANCE  UNDER  CHARLEMAGNE.  2? 

Christendom  which  it  has  never  lost,  and  there  was 
awakened  in  it  a  thirst  for  intellectual  freedom  which 
became  a  quickening  spirit  in  the  nations  round  about. 
It  is  not  without  sufficient  reason,  therefore,  that  an 
eminent  writer  has  used  these  words  • — "  France  is 
indebted  to  Alcuin  for  all  the  polite  learning  it  boasted 
of  in  that  and  the  following  ages.  The  universities  of 
Paris,  Tours,  Fulden,  Soissons,  and  many  others  owe 
to  him  their  origin  and  increase  ;  those  of  which  he 
was  not  the  superior  and  founder  being  at  least  en- 
lightened by  his  doctrine  and  example,  and  enriched  by 
the  benefits  he  procured  for  them  from  Charlemagne."  ^ 

These  vigorous  efforts  after  intellectual  revival  were 
the  first  movement  of  the  Christian  consciousness  in 
rebellion  to  the  bondage  in  which  the  Church  was 
increasingly  binding  its  members.  They  were  the  first 
protest  in  behalf  of  the  rational  exercise  of  the  human 
judgment  in  arbitrating  upon  truth  in  science  and 
philosophy  and  theology.  Many  efforts  must  still  be 
made,  many  protests  uttered,  many  vibrations  felt, 
until  the  august  hour  arrived,  when  the  right  of 
private  judgment  could  be  fully  secured,  and  the  spell 
of  ecclesiastical  authority  could  be  dissolved  for  ever. 

The  early  Protestantism  of  the  age,  inarticulated. 
even  to  itself,  found  a  quick  response  in  the  mind  of 
Charlemagne.  He  protected  and  patronised  the  Church, 
whilst  maintaining  an  entire  freedom  from  all  subser- 
vience to  ecclesiasticism.  He  dissented  from  the 
decision  of  the  Council  of  Nicea  with  respect  to  the 
use  of  images,  and  summoned  a  Council  at  Frankfort, 
which  under  his  influence  pronounced  an  opposite 
decision.  He  viewed  with  disgust  the  ignorance  and 
immorality  existing  amongst  the  clergy,  and  required 

^  Quoted  in  article  "Alcuin,"  Encyc.  Brit.,  gth.Ed.,  i.,  472. 


2S  GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

them  both  to  study  more  carefully  and  to  reform  their 
lives.  He  showed  a  profound  reverence  for  the  Scrip- 
tures, whilst  he  rebelled  against  the  dogmatic  spirit  of 
the  Church,  and  in  promoting  the  culture  of  science 
and  literature  on  an  extended  scale,  he  laid  the 
foundation  of  a  new  order  of  things,  in  which  both 
philosophy  and  religion  would  be  established  on  a 
basis  more  safe  and  natural  than  that  of  simple 
ecclesiastical  authority.  Even  during  the  later  years 
of  his  reign,  when  he  became  the  strong  stay  of  the 
Papacy,  he  required  from  the  Popes  attention  and 
submission  as  the  price  of  his  protection. 

If  Charlemagne  could  have  commanded  a  succession 
of  kings  and  emperorn  like  to  himself — men  with  a 
royal  largeness  of  heart,  strength  of  will,  and  grandeur 
of  purpose,  who  cou.id  gather  up  the  highest  spirit  of 
the  times  and  givii  expression  to  it,  Europe  might 
have  been  saved  ages  of  agony  and  sorrow.^  Such, 
however,  was  not  the  method  of  Providence,  which 
seems  to  approve  that  humanity  should  be  made 
peaceful,  wise,  and  holy  through  the  endurance  of 
actual  pang  and  anguish  arising  from  its  own  sins 
and  errors,  rather  than  that  the  victory  over  these 
should  be  gained  for  it  by  a  succession  of  universally 
endowed  heroes. 

When  Charlemagne  passed  from  his  earthly  empire, 
and  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Louis  the  Pious,  he 
devolved  a  burden  of  responsibility  upon  his  successor, 
which  no  one  could  have  been  more  unfit  to  bear. 
He  was  a  man  for  times  of  quiet  and  gentle  piety, 
for  "  piping  times  of  peace,"  not  for  times  of  restless 
energy  and  youthful  struggle.  He  had  good  intentions, 
but  a  feeble  grasp  ;  he  meant  to  do  well,  but  he  could 
'   Notes  E  and  C. 


THE  RF.iVA/SSANCE  UNDER  CHARLEMAGNE.  29 

scarcely  be  said  to  have  a  definite  purpose  in  life  ;  he 
had  a  sensitive  and  cultivated  conscience,  but  it  was 
under  the  control  of  a  morbid  and  superstitious  re- 
ligionism. The  result  was  that  his  reign  was  one  of 
tumult  and  rebellion  ;  he  was  powerless  to  command 
the  fierce  Northmen  who  had  bowed  in  submission 
before  the  strong  will  of  his  father  ;  the  tide  of  civilisa- 
tion which  had  begun  to  flow  over  the  tribes  of  Saxony- 
ebbed  quickly  away  ;  the  unity  of  the  great  empire 
was  broken  up  by  the  unnatural  civil  wars  carried  on 
by  his  own  children  ;  hardy  rugged  Normans  sv/ept 
southward,  crushing  out  the  renaissance  which  the 
great  emperor  had  induced,  and  for  some  ages  Europe 
was  doomed  to  endure  the  horrors  of  retrogression. 

In  a  time  of  such  storm  and  shaking  the  irfint 
culture  of  Europe  might  have  been  hopelessly  destroyed, 
except  that  the  Church,  which  previously  had  done 
much  to  discourage  it — which  by  its  passionate  ambition 
for  supreme  dominion  over  the  consciences  of  men,  and 
its  growing  desire  for  a  temporal  sovereignty,  was  ill 
prepared  to  encourage  any  intellectual  growths, — was 
able  to  afford  a  refuge  to  literature  and  learning  in 
the  schools  of  abbeys  and  monasteries  which  had  been 
established  in  the  late  reign.  The  learning  of  the 
age  was  thus  confined  within  narrow  bounds,  and  was 
impressed  with  a  spirit  of  extreme  timidity.  The 
Church  which  gave  shelter  to  a  culture  it  had  formerly 
discouraged,  could  not  but  impart  to  it  a  trembling 
fearfulness,  which  resulted  in  an  antipathy  to  all  pro- 
fane literature,  and  an  abstinence  from  all  criticism  in 
respect  to  sacred  subjects  ;  it  abhorred  the  former 
because  of  its  pac;an  associations,  it  revered  the  latter 
with  too  superstitious  an  awe  to  dare  to  subject  it  to 
any  rational  examination.      Thus   narrowed  in   sphere. 


30  GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

and  timid  in  nature,  the  newly  planted  learning  grew 
feebly,  only  growing  indeed  at  all  by  reason  of  an 
occasional  healthful  breeze  which  came  from  the  genius 
of  a  vigorous  civilisation  which  was  advancing  outside 
of  it,  and  which  made  progress  under  the  influence  of  the 
Arabian  conquerors  in  Europe.  The  period  thus  spent 
is  called  the  Dark  Ages,'  but  they  were  not  really  so 
dark  as  they  are  generally  painted,  nor  did  they  really 
endure  much  longer  than  one  century.  There  were 
stirring  events  transpiring  which  were  unfavourable  to 
the  cultivation  of  literature  ;  the  Papacy  by  aiming  at 
supreme  temporal  power  caused  much  division,  dis- 
turbance, and  bloodshed  ;  the  Crusades  began  to  dazzle 
the  mind  of  Christendom  ;  there  was  a  great  decline 
in  the  art  of  government ;  but,  notwithstanding,  the 
period  characterised  as  Dark  was  redeemed  from  utter 
gloom  by  a  few  shining  names.  Such  scholars  as 
Rabanus  Maurus,  Eginhard,  Anastasius,  Smaragdus, 
Bertharius,  Agobard,  Hincman.  and  some  others  would 
have  redeemed  any  age  from  a  charge  of  intellectual 
barrenness,  and  would  have  been  ornaments  to  times 
of  greater  intellectual  activity  ;  but  within  a  genera- 
tion from  the  death  of  Ciiarlcmagne  there  arose  one  who 
was  the  brightest  light  of  those  days  of  gloom,  and 
one  of  the  greatest  metaphysicians  of  any  age  or 
country.  John  Erigena  must  become  the  text  for 
another  chapter. 


Note  A. 

"  Dating  from  Charlemagne  the  face  of  things  changes,  decay  is 
arrested,  progress  recommences.  Yet  for  a  long  period  the  disorder 
will  be  enormous,  the  progress  partial,  but  little  visible  or  often 

•  Note  D. 


THE  RENAISSANCE  UNDER  CHARLEMAGNE.         31 

suspended.  This  matters  not,  we  shall  no  more  encounter  those 
long  ages  of  disorganization,  of  always  increasing  intellectual  ste- 
rility ;  through  a  thousand  sufferings,  a  thousand  interruptions,  we 
shall  see  life  and  power  revive  in  man  and  in  society.  Charlemagne 
marks  the  limit  at  which  the  dissolution  of  the  ancient  Roman  and 
barbarian  world  is  consummated,  and  where  really  begins  the  for- 
mation of  modem  Europe  and  of  the  new  world.  It  was  under  his 
reign  and  as  it  were  under  his  hand  that  the  shock  took  place  by 
which  European  society,  turning  rightly  round,  left  the  paths  of 
destruction  to  enter  those  of  creation." — Guizoi,  "Hist,  of  Civ.  in 
France,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  208. 

Note  B. 

"  The  power  of  Charlemagne  was  really  a  power  which  emanated 
from  himself ;  his  empire  did  not  give  it  to  him,  he  gave  it  to  his 
empire.  The  submission  of  his  vassals  was  not  the  result  of  fear, 
but  of  admiration  ;  the  minds  of  these  primitive  Germans,  like  the 
minds  of  their  modem  successors,  yielded  that  homage  to  individual 
intellect  which  they  never  yielded  to  individual  authority.  It  was 
speedily  to  be  made  manifest  that  the  empire  without  Charlemagne 
would  experience  the  fate  of  the  body  without  the  soul.  Its  very 
vastness  prevented  it  from  being  enduring,  it  was  held  together  by 
a  master  hand,  but  the  withdrawal  of  that  hand  must  cause  its 
dissolution.  And  the  hand  was  now  about  to  be  withdrawn.  In 
the  height  of  his  splendour,  in  the  fulness  of  his  years,  in  the  blaze 
of  his  fame,  Charlemagne  passed  away,  and  with  him  passed  the 
glory  of  that  Carlovingian  race,  of  which  his  father  had  been  but  the 
founder  ;  its  life  seemed  to  have  exhausted  itself  in  the  overflowing 
richness  of  this  one  life,  and  those  who  followed  in  the  train  had  not 
their  due  share  of  vigour.  Charlemagne,  as  we  have  said,  had  two 
natures  in  him,  that  of  the  barbarous  age,  and  that  of  the  incipient 
renaissance,— the  masculine  roughness,  the  feminine  tenderness. 
The  former  died  with  him,  the  latter  he  bequeathed  to  his  posterity." 
- — Maihesotiy  "  Growth  of  Spirit  of  Christianity,"  iL,  1 5, 

Note  C. 

It  may  here  be  said  that  Charlemagne  has  been  greatly  censured 
by  historians  for  the  extreme  severity  with  which  he  conducted  his 
wars  against  the  Saxons,  and  for  his  firm  imposition  upon  them  of 
the   Christian   faith.     But  before   the  gieat  king  is   blamed   too 


32         GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

severely  his  position  should  be  fairly  weighed.  He  knew  that  there 
was  hope  for  the  civilization  of  Europe  only  in  the  subjugation  of 
those  terrible  freebooters  of  the  north,  and  that  when  subdued  their 
only  hope  for  future  peace  and  honour  was  in  them  becoming 
Christians.  The  following  remarks  by  Sir  James  Stephens  are 
marked  by  his  usual  thoughtfulness  and  discrimination  ; — 

"  That  the  alternative  '  believe  or  die,'  was  sometimes  proposed 
by  Charlemagne  to  the  Saxons,  I  shall  not  dispute.  But  it  is  not 
less  true  that  before  these  terms  were  tendered  to  them. they  had 
again  and  again  rejected  his  less  formidable  proposal,  *  be  quiet  and 
live.'  In  form  and  term,  indeed,  their  election  lay  between  the 
gospel  and  the  sword.  In  substance  and  in  reality  they  had  to 
make  their  choice  between  submission  and  destruction.  A  long 
and  deplorable  experience  had  already  shown  that  the  Frankish 
people  had  neither  peace  nor  security  to  expect  for  a  single  year  so 
long  as  their  Saxon  neighbours  retained  their  heathen  rites  and 
their  ferocious  barbarism  inseparable  from  them.  Fearful  as  may 
be  the  dilemma,  '  submit  or  perish,'  it  is  that  to  which  every  nation, 
even  in  our  own  times,  endeavours  to  reduce  a  host  of  invading 
and  desolating  foes,  nor  if  we  ourselves  were  exposed  to  similar 
inroads,  should  we  offer  to  our  assailants  conditions  more  gentle  or 
less  peremptory." — Lect.  "  Hist,  of  France,"  i.,  92. 

Note  D. 
"  It  has  often  been  urged  in  disparagement  of  Charlemagne  and 
of  what  he  wrought,  that  in  good  part  it  perished  with  him,  that  the 
darkness,  scattered  for  the  moment,  closed  in  again  and  swallowed 
up  all.  There  is  only  partial  truth  in  this  statement.  The  cloister 
schools  which  he  had  founded  lived  through  the  tenth  century, 
generally  acknowledged  as,  of  the  Dark  Ages,  the  darkest  of  alL 
In  these  schools  were  cherished,  and  from  these  proceeded,  those 
new  activities  of  the  human  mind  which  were  to  issue  in  the 
scholastic  philosophy,  the  University  of  Paris  being  in  direct  lineal 
descent  from  the  Palatine  school  at  Aachen,  of  which  Alcuin  was 
the  founder.  And  if  the  reign  of  Charles  does  stand  out  as  an  isle 
of  light  with  a  night  of  darkness  encompassing  it  on  every  side,  so 
far  from  diminishing,  this  rather  enhances  the  importance  and  sig- 
nificance of  that  brief  season  of  refreshing,  that  breathing  time  thus 
obtained  for  arts  and  sciences,  which  might  else  have  perished, 
unable  to  live  at  all  through  the  dreary  centuries  which  were  before 
x\Mfm:'— Trench,  "  Med.  Church  Hist.,"  83. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  HARBINGER   OF  DAWN. 
E RIG  EN  A. 


"  What  we,  when  face  to  face  we  see 
The  Father  of  our  souls,  shall  be, 
John  tells  us  doth  not  yet  appear. 
Ah  !  did  he  tell  what  we  are  here  ? 

"  A  Mind  for  thoughts  to  pass  into  ; 
A  Heart  for  loves  to  travel  through  ; 
Five  Senses  to  detect  things  near : 
Is  this  the  Whole  that  we  are  here  ? 

"  We  must  believe,  for  still  we  hope 
That  in  a  world  of  larger  scope, 
What  here  is  faithfully  begun 
Will  be  completed,  not  undone." 

A.  H.  Clough. 

' '  In  being's  flood,  and  action's  storm, 
I  walk  and  work  above,  beneath, 
Work  and  weave  in  endless  motion, 
Birth  and  death  an  infinite  ocean, 
A  seizing  and  giving  the  fire  of  the  living, 
'Tis  thus  at  the  war  my  loom  of  time  I  ply, 
And  weave  for  God  the  garment  thou  seest  Him  by." 

GoiiTHE  (J,ra7ulated  by  Carlyle). 


III. 

JOHN  SCO  TUS—ERIGENA. 

Charles  the  Bald,  youngest  son  of  Louis  the  Pious, 
was  created  King  of  Aquitaine  in  832,  and  after  adding 
much  territory  to  his  kingdom,  attained  the  imperial 
crown  in  875.  This  had  been  the  great  object  of  his 
ambition  during  Hfe,  and  he  received  it  from  the  hands  of 
Pope  John  VIII.  as  the  reward  of  having  ceded  to  him 
several  valuable  privileges,  and  especially  that  of  con- 
trolling the  election  to  the  Papacy. 

Charles  aimed  at  being  considered  a  great  patron 
and  encourager  of  learning,  and  with  this  view  he 
invited  to  his  court  many  of  the  most  accomplished 
scholars  in  Europe,  insomuch  that  Hcric  of  Auxerrc 
affirmed  that  Greece  was  deserted  by  her  learned  men. 
that  they  might  flock  to  the  Prankish  court,  and 
describes  Ireland  as  being  totally  deserted  by  its  philo- 
sophers.' Literature  was  thus  favoured  with  much 
distinguished  encouragement,  but  it  must  be  borne  in 
mind  that  the  educational  institutions  by  which  Charle- 
magne had  sought  to  %\vq.  a  lasting  basis  to  learning 
had  fallen  into  great  neglect,  and  where  they  flourished 

•  "Penc   totam   cum    grege  philosophorum   ad    littera   nostra 
migrantem.'' — Patrol,  cxxiv.  1133. 


36  GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

did  SO  because  of  their  own  inward  vitality,  or  because 
of  some  local  patronage  and  support. 

Amongst  those  who  were  drawn  from  all  parts  of 
Christendom  to  the  court  of  Charles  was  John  Scotus, 
known  better  by  the  name  of  Erigena.  He  was  born 
between  the  years  800  and  810.  As  his  name  indi- 
cates, he  was  a  native  of  the  British  Isles,  but  of  which 
cannot  be  determined,  the  evidence  on  the  whole  pre- 
ponderating somewhat  towards  Ireland.  His  education 
certainly  seems  to  have  been  received  there,  and  he 
became  the  leader  of  those  learned  men  whom  the 
Irish  monasteries  sent  forth  in  those  times  of  darkness 
to  aid  so  largely  the  intellectual  progress  of  the  West.' 
Almost  all  details  of  his  life  and  career  are  lost,  but  the 
records  of  his  controversies  and  literary  toils  survive, 
and  one  at  least,  of  several  works  which  he  produced 
is  preserved  to  testify  of  his  learning  and  genius.  It 
would  seem  that  he  never  took  priestly  orders,  and  he 
always  manifested  a  haalthy  independence  of  priestly 
influence.  He  travelled  m  various  countries,  and  thus 
doubtless  largely  extended  both  his  knowledge  and 
experience.  He  was  drawn  to  the  centre  of  intellectual 
life  in  Europe,  and  from  Charles  experienced  a  cordial 
welcome.  Speedily  between  him  and  the  king  there 
sprang  up  a  close  friendship,  which  continued  through 
life.  Wiliiam  of  Malmesbury  has  preserved  a  few 
incidents  of  his  life  at  the  royal  court,  which  afford  illus- 
tration of  the  freedom  of  intercourse  which  existed 
between  them.  Upon  one  occasion  the  king  and  he 
were  feasting,  and  sat  opposite  to  each  other  at  table. 
Erigena  seems  to  have  indulged  in  some  irregularity, 
on  which  Charles,  intending  to  rebuke  him,  asked,, 
"  What  separates  between  a  sot  and  a  Scot  ?"  to  which, 
'  Neander,  "Church  Hist.,"  vi.  253. 


JOHN  SCOTUS—ERIGENA.  yj 

with  exquisite  dexterity,  the  philosopher  replied,  "  The 
table."  '  The  king  had  the  good  sense  to  feel  nothing 
but  amusement  at  the  clever  retort.  Another  incident, 
which  shows  him  to  have  been  a  man  of  small  stature 
and  thin  habit,  but  of  a  lively  and  iacetious  turn,  is  also 
recorded.  He  was  at  the  king's  table,  seated  near  two 
ecclesiastics  of  enormous  size.  The  servant  brought  in 
a  dish  containing  two  large  fishes  and  a  very  little  one. 
The  king  asked  him  to  serve  the  fish  amongst  them. 
His  cheerful  wit  suggested  a  practical  joke,  and  he 
conveyed  the  two  large  fishes  to  his  own  plate,  and 
divided  the  little  fish  between  the  two  priests.  They 
complained  to  the  king  of  the  unfair  distribution. 
"  Not  so,"  said  Erigena,  "  it  is  fair  and  equal  ;  here  is 
one  little  one,"  pointing  to  himself,  '*  and  two  great 
fishes,"  pointing  to  those  on  his  plate;  and  then  to  the 
clergy  and  the  little  fish  on  their  plates  he  added, 
"  There  are  two  great  clerics  and  one  little  one." 

His  learning  for  the  tmies  was  very  great;  he  under- 
stood Greek,  but  with  Latin  he  was  perfectly  familiar. 
It  is  said  that  he  had  some  knowledge  of  Hebrew,  but 
of  this  there  is  no  evidence.  He  had  read  the  Timceus 
of  Plato  in  the  translation  of  Chalcidius,  the  De  Inter- 
pretatione,  and  the  Categories  of  Aristotle,  the  Isagogue 
of  Porphyry,  the  Compendium  of  Boethius,  and  many 
other  noble  works.  Soon  after  his  arrival  in  France 
he  was  appointed  by  Charles  to  the  Mastership  of  the 
Schola  Palatina  at  Paris,  in  which  position  he  remained 
for  some  years,  and  while  here  he  undertook  a  task  the 
accomplishment  of  which  affected  greatly  his  future 
history,  and  influenced  considerably  the  future  learning 
of  Europe. 

In  the  year   827,  Michael  the   Stammerer,  Emperor 

^  Malm.  \\\  lib.  v. 


38  GREAT  sen OOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

of  the  East,  sent  as  a  gift  to  Louis  the  Pious  a  copy 
of  the  extraordinary  books  produced  by  a  monk  who 
wrote  under  the  skilfully-chosen  pseudonym  of  Diony- 
sius  the  Areopagite.  The  present  was  graciously 
received,  and  deposited  in  the  Abbey  of  St.  Denys, 
near  Paris,  under  the  care  of  Abbot  Hilduin,  In  an 
age  which  passionately  raged  for  marvels  and  miracles, 
it  was  not  wonderful  that  the  Areopagite,  the  convert 
of  St.  Paul,  and  the  reputed  first  Bishop  of  the  Church 
at  Athens,  should  be  identified  with  Denys  the  Saint 
and  Apostle  of  France.  The  gift,  by  a  providential 
coincidence,  arrived  at  the  court  on  the  very  day  of  the 
feast  of  St.  Dionysius,  and  such  grace  accompanied 
It  that  numerous  miracles  were  forthwith  wrought  by  the 
books.  Very  naturally  the  king  desired  to  have  a 
translation  of  the  books  from  their  original  Greek  into 
the  Latin,  but  neither  the  Abbot  of  St.  Denys,  nor  any 
other  scholar  of  the  day  in  France,  could  be  found  to 
perform  the  task.  When  Erigena  had  settled  at  the 
court  of  the  son  of  Louis,  the  competent  scholar  was 
found,  for  not  only  had  he  learned  Greek,  but  had 
ventured,  albeit  with  poor  success,  upon  original  com- 
position in  thai  language.  The  royal  command  was 
therefore  laid  upon  him  to  render  the  works  of  the 
Greek  monk  into  Latin. 

The  history  and  nature  of  these  writings  require  a 
few  words  of  explanation.  In  the  middle  of  the  fifth 
century,  when  the  factions  of  the  Christian  Church 
were  in  passionate  warfare  with  each  other,  when 
bishops  and  clergy  engaged  in  riots  with  clamouring 
rabble  at  their  heels,  and  when  stormy  controversies 
in  ecclesiastical  councils  destroyed  the  spirituality  and 
stayed  the  progress  of  the  Church,  a  monk  who  has 
not  bequeathed  his  name  to  posterity  wa.^  elaborating 


JOHh'  SCOTUS—ERIGENA.  39 

in  his  cell's  quiet  seclusion  a  series  of  treatises  which 
were  to  find  a  ring^ing  echo  down  the  long  centuries, 
and  which  are  reverberating  in  the  nineteenth  as  loudly 
as  ever,  and  to  which  treatises  he  attached,  by  a  saga- 
cious instinct,  the  name  of  Dionysius  the  Areopagite. 
He  seems  to  have  had  his  soul  steeped  in  the  peculiar 
admixture  of  heathen  philosophy,  Christian  dogma, 
and  cabalistic  incantation  which  was  compounded  by 
the  various  teachers  of  the  Alexandrian  schools.  Pro- 
bably he  had  been  trained  under  the  tuition  of  Proclus, 
but  at  some  important  crisis  of  life,  like  Justin  Martyr 
or  Augustine,  he  exchanged  the  old  philosophic  teach- 
ing for  the  nobler  teaching  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
He  could  not,  however,  cast  off  every  trace  and'  vestige 
of  the  old  training,- — he  still  wore  the  robe  of  the  philo- 
sopher whilst  he  reverently  bowed  before  the  Divine 
Teacher  of  Galilee,  and  as  he  took  his  pen  in  hand  the 
doctrines  of  Plotinus  and  Proclus  came  out  In  his 
writings  arrayed  in  Christian  garb,  and  baptized  in  the 
name  of  his  new  and  adored  Master.  To  understand 
aright  the  position  assumed  either  by  the  pscudo 
Dionysius  or  Erigcna,  the  nature  of  those  cioctdnes 
must  be  briefly  noticed. 

Of  the  philosophy  of  Alexandria,  Plotinus  was  the 
real  founder  ;  Proclus,  while  differing  in  some  details, 
was  but  the  logical  expounder  of  his  doctrines. 
When  he  was  twenty-eight  years  of  age,  A.D.  233,  he 
became  a  pupil  at  Alexandria,  in  the  school  of  Ammo- 
nius  Saccas.  He  was  baffled  with  and  distressed  by 
the  sceptical  tone  prevailing  amongst  the  learned,  he 
was  wearied  with  mere  negatives  and  destructive  criti- 
cism, he  was  painfully  anxious  for  truth  of  a  positive 
character,  and  he  stretched  forth  his  hands  "  f-^elirg 
after  it,  if  haply  he  might   find  it."     On   becoming  a 


40  GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  77IE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

disciple  of  Saccas,  he  studied  profoundly  the  Dialogues 
of  Plato  and  the  Metaphysics  of  Aristotle ;  he  practised 
the  severest  asceticism,  in  order  to  leave  his  mind   the 
more  untrammeled  by  the  burden  of  the  flesh  ;  he  be- 
came entranced  by  reading  the  life  of  Apollonius  of 
Tyana,  which   had  recently   been    issued,   and   read'ly 
drank  in.  not  onlv  the  marvels  of  his  magical  skill,  but 
the  strange  conibinarion  of  Oiientalism  and   Platonisnr 
which    the   philosophical    hierophant   expounded.      He 
afterwards  travelled   m   the   East,  and  there,  doubtless, 
became    familiar  with  the  old    theosophies.  with   their 
favourite    doctrines   of    the    principle    of   evil,    of   the 
gradual  unfolding  of  the  Divine  essence,  of  the  creation 
of  the  universe  by  intermediate  agencies  ;  and  probably 
also  at  this   time  he  learned  the  noble   but   imperfect 
theosophy    inculcated    by    Philo.       On    his    return    to 
Alexandria  he  was  prepared   to  follow  in  the  footsteps 
•of  his  old  master,  Ammonius  Saccus,  and  to  attempt  a 
more  complete  eclectic  philosophy  than  had  yet  been 
offered    to    the   world.       The   foundation   of    Plotiuus' 
teaching  was  the  philosophy  of  Plato  ;  he  adopted  his 
doctrine  of     senslbles     and     intelligibles,"  and  inter- 
mediate or  psychical  natures.     Unconsciously,  however, 
he  taught    a   radically  different   doctrine   to   Plato   in 
insisting  that  the  One,  or  the  Good,  which  the  Greciaa 
master  taught  was  the  highest  of  the  Ideas,  is  raised, 
not  only  above  the  Ideas,  but  above  rational  apprehen- 
sion, and  that  the  Ideas  to  which  Plato  gave  indepen- 
dent existence  are  emanations  from  this  One,  that  the 
soul  in  its  turn  is  an  emanation  from  the  Ideas,  and  so 
on  until  we  reach  the  "  sensible,"  which  is  the  last  in 
the  series  of  emanations.     Another  decided  difference 
between  him  and  Plato  is  that  whilst  the  latter  styles 
the  Ideas  gods,  and  the  highest  Idea  the  highest  God, 


JOHN-  SCO  TUS—ERIGENA.  4 1 

the  former  teaches  that  the  Ideas  inhere  in  the  Ntjus. 
Plotinus  teaches  also  that  the  One,  by  reason  of  its 
absolute  and  essential  unity,  is  exalted  far  above  reason 
or  rational  apprehension,  but  by  its  superabundant 
energy  it  projects  an  imaj^e  of  itself,  which  image,  by 
an  involuntary  intuition,  turns  to  behold  its  original, 
and  becomes  the  Nous,  or  mind.  In  this  the  Ideas 
inhere  as  real  and  essential  parts  of  itself,  and  consti- 
tute the  Nous  in  its  completeness,  as  the  parts  con- 
stitute the  whole.  To  the  Nous  real  being  and  life 
belong,  and  thus  we  come  to  the  radical  defect  of  the 
teaching  of  Plotinus.  The  same  ideal  reality  being  at 
once  the  truly  existing,  the  true  object  of  knowledge 
and  the  knowing  subject  or  reason.  He  makes  the 
objects  contemplated,  and  that  which  contemplates, 
absolutely  identical  ;  subject  and  object  are  confound f^d 
together  he  rests  his  svstem  on  a  fatal  petitio  principii. 
as  many  others  have  done  and  thus  anticipates  by 
1*500  years   the   errors   of  Hegel. 

Plotinus  now  endeavoured  to  open  a  way  for  the 
soul  to  enter  into  unity  with  the  Infinite,  and  therefore 
reduced  it  to  the  most  abstract  and  subtle  simplicity. 
He  attributed  to  it  a  capacity  by  which  it  could  exalt 
itself  above  both  action  and  intelligence,  the  result 
being  what  he  called  ecstasy,  the  soul  transcending  its 
finite  condition,  and  expanding  into  the  infinite.  These 
blissful  experiences,  few  and  short  though  tliey  might 
be,  were  "  times  of  refreshing "  and  rejuvenation,  a 
blessed  solace  and  compensation  to  the  student  for  his 
wearying  and  agonizing  efforts  to  reach  the  highest 
truth.  Here,  however,  Plotinus  fell  into  another  most 
serious  error  in  teaching  the  possible  absorption  of  the 
soul  into  the  Infinite,  thu-^  adopting  the  conclu.sion  of 
the  Oriental    pantheist  of  five  centuries   before  Christ, 


42  GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

and  of  the  German  nineteen  centuries  after  Him/  that 
an  individual  existence  is  but  phenomenal  and  acci- 
dental. The  soul  is  resolved  into  the  most  subtle 
unity,  and  then  rises  by  ecstasy  into  the  Absolute,  the 
primordial  essence  itself.  Such  ethereal  teaching  could 
not  suffice  to  satisfy  the  human  consciousness  very  long ; 
the  abstractions  of  Plotinus  were  soon  clothed  upon  by 
sensuous  and  tangible  garb  ;  degenerate  followers  began 
to  describe  the  visions  of  the  unseen  world,  which  had 
been  disclosed  to  them  in  their  times  of  ecstasy,  and  a 
literature  arose,  filled  with  revelations  of  spiritual  forms, 
angelic  companies,  heavenly  hierarchies,  gentle  genii, 
astral  influences,  unseen  encampments,  realms  of  un- 
speakable brightness,  with  myriads  of  inhabitants  ar- 
ranged in  orderly  rank  and  phalanx  ;  and  thus  the 
outcome  of  the  Alexandrian  effort  to  solve  the  enigmas 
of  Being  and  Knowing  was  a  curious  compound  of 
Greek  metaphysic.  Oriental  pantheism,  and  magical  pre- 
tension, which,  however,  exercised  a  talismanic  influence 
over  many  minds  of  a  high  ordei. 

Plotinus  had  not,  in  any  large  degree,  the  faculty  of 
arrangement  or  classification.  He  left  it,  therefore,  to 
his  followers  to  reduce  to  system  the  philosophy  he 
had  taught,  and  into  which  he  hoped  he  had  condensed 
the  good  from  all  preceding  systems.^  This  was  not 
accomplished  until  the  fifth  century,  when  Proclus,  who 
has  been  called  "the  scholastic  of  the  Greek  philoso- 
phers," "  collated,  arranged,  and  dialectically  elaborated 
the  whole  body  of  transmitted   philosophy,  augmented 

'  Note  A,  end  of  chapter. 

'  He  is  said  to  have  exclaimed,  when  dying :  "  I  am  striving  to 
bring  the  divine  thing  which  is  in  us  to  the  divine  which  is  in  the 
universe."  These  words  strongly  express  the  effort  of  his  life,  and 
the  spirit  of  his  teaching. 


JOHN  SCOTUS—F.RIGENA.  43 

it  by  additions  of  his  own,  and  combined  the  whole  in 
a  sort  of  system  to  which  he  succeeded  in  giving  the 
appearance  of  a  rigidly  scientific  form."' 

Proclus  differed  from  Plotinus  and  the  earlier  Alex- 
andrian thinkers  in  a  few  particulars,  which  must  be 
mentioned.  He  taught  that  the  One,  or  the  Good,  is 
the  First  Cause  of  existence,  and  lies  at  the  foundation 
of  all  Unity  ;  that  from  it  all  things  proceed,  and  to  it 
all  must  return.  That  it  is  impossible  to  conceive  of 
the  nature  of  this  Unity,  as  our  usual  conception  of 
unity  does  not  describe  it ;  it  is  above  unity  and  above 
the  conception  of  Good  and  of  Cause.  From  this  Unity 
issue  a  plurality  of  unities,  the  number  of  which  we 
may  not  know,  but  which  are  fewer  in  rjmber  than 
the  Ideas  of  Plato  or  Plotinus,  and  which  so  exist  in 
each  other  as  to  constitute,  whilst  plural,  one  Unity. 
These  unities  operate  in  the  world,  they  are  the  agents 
of  the  primordial  essence,  they  are  the  gods  in  the 
highest  sense  of  the  word,  and  they  occupy  higher 
ranks  as  they  stand  in  closer  relation  to  the  One,  the 
primal  Unity.  These  unities  are  followed  by  three 
essences,  which  Proclus  calls  being,  life,  and  thought, 
which  are  different  in  rank,  and  which,  while  being  an 
Unity  in  themselves,  include  within  them  various  triads, 
divinities  masculine  and  feminine,  and  Hebdomades, 
forming  an  ideal  hierarchy  of  descending  degrees. 
From  one  of  these  essences  the  Intellectual  or  Psy- 
chical emanates,  and  every  soul  is  by  its  nature  eternal, 
although  by  its  activity  it  is  related  to  time.  Occupy- 
ing a  middle  place  between  the  Absolute  and  the 
material,  the  soul  possesses  freedom  of  will  ;  if  it  err 
the  evil  is  chargeable  upon  itself,  and  it  has  the  power 
to  turn  back  again  to  the  Divine  purity.  In  other 
'  Ueberweg,  "  Hist,  of  Phil.,"  I.  255. 


44  GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

respects   the  teaching  oi"  Proclus   seems   to  have   been 
mainly  that  of  Plotinus. 

The  monk  of  Alexandria,  who  with  such  sagacity 
baptized  his  writings  with  the  name  of  the  first  convert 
under  the  preaching  of  St.  Paul  at  Athens,  and  who 
thereby  seemed  to  give  them  almost  an  apostolic 
sanction,  must  have  had  his  nature  saturated  with 
the  Alexandrian  theosophy  as  formulated  by  Proclus. 
In  his  treatises  the  pantheistic  doctrine  of  emanation, 
as  taught  by  the  Neo-Platonists,  the  evolution  of  the 
universe  through  successive  orders  of  existence,  begin- 
ning with  the  Primordial  Essence  called  God,  but  which 
by  some  of  the  teachers  might  as  well  have  been  called 
Nothing,  since  it  was  said  to  have  no  relation  at  all  to 
the  created  universe ;  and  then  the  tendency  of  all 
being  to  return  to  that  original  One,  to  be  fe-absorbed 
by  it, — are  all  reproduced  by  the  so-called  Dionysius 
without  any  material  alteration.  The  Divine  Word 
which  occupies  a  prominent  place  in  his  system,  is  so 
far  removed  from  man  by  a  long  succession  of  celestial 
powers  and  ecclesiastical  officials  as  to  be  a  remote 
Luminary  rather  than  the  Friend  and  Brother  and 
Saviour  of  mankind.  The  ideal  hierarchy  of  Proclus 
is  reproduced  by  him  without  any  change  save  that  of 
names.  The  tendency  of  the  whole  system,  was  sacer- 
dotal It  was  to  advertise  the  Greek  Church  ;  to 
represent  all  truth  as  being  symbolized  by  its 
ecclesiastical  offices,  to  teach  that  these  oflfices  were 
the  counterparts  of  those  in  the  heavenly  kingdom,  and 
that  the  whole  organization  furnished  a  definite  and 
popular  exposition  of  the  hierarchical  system  of  the 
universe.' 

^  See  a  thoughtful  and  interesting^  article  on  the  works  and  teach- 
ings of  Dionysius  in  Coniempbrary  Review  for  May  1867,  from  the 
accomplished  pen  of  Canon  B.  F.  Westcott. 


JOHN  SCOTUS—ERIGENA.  45 

The  translation  of  the  works  of  Dionysius  was  com- 
pleted by  Erigena,  but  speedily  the  Pope,  Nicolaus  I.; 
complained  to  Charles  that  the  translation  had  not 
been  sent  to  him  for  his  censorship  and  approval  before 
its  publication,  and  proposed  to  summon  the  philoso- 
pher before  him  to  answer  for  certain  heretical  opinions 
which  a  keen  scent  had  detected  therein.  It  is  affirmed 
by  some  historians  that  Erigena  was  removed  from  his 
position  as  conductor  of  the  Schola  Palatina  in  conse- 
quence of  the  Pope's  interference  ;  but,  if  so,  he  still 
remained  the  honoured  friend  and  companion  of  the 
king.  He  seems  after  this  to  have  carefully  studied 
the  writings  of  Maximus  Confessor,  the  commentator 
on  the  works  of  Dionysius,  of  Origcn,  of  Gregory  of 
Nazianzum,  of  Gregory  of  Nyssa,  and  other  Greek 
Fathers,  and  afterwards  of  Augustine  and  the  Latin 
Church  writers. 

The  greatest  event  in  the  life  of  Erigena  was  the 
publication  of  his  work  De  Divlsmie  Naturce,  which 
still  survives,  and  bears  ample  testimony  both  to  the 
strength  and  clearness  of  his  intellect  and  to  the 
thoroughness  with  which  he  had  imbibed  the  notions 
of  Plato,  and  the  Platonists  of  Alexandria  and  the 
Christian  Church,  This  book  is  written  in  a  lucid 
and  terse  style;'  like  most  of  the  mediaival  works  in 
theology  and  philosophy,  it  is  in  the  form  of  dialogue, 
and  makes  a  constant  use  of  the  syllogism. 

He  divides  the  book  into  four  parts  :  into  that  which 
creates  and  is  not  created,  that  which  is  created  and 
creates,  that  which  is  created  and  does  not  create,  and 
that  which  neither  creates  nor  is  created.  Under  these 
heads  he  compiises  all  things  in  the  universe,  and 
deduces  the  general  doctrine  that  as  all  things  were 
'  Note  B,  end  of  chapter. 


46  GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

originally  contained  in  God,  and  proceeded  from  Him 
into  the  various  classes  in  which  they  now  exist,  so 
they  shall  finally  return  to  Him,  and  be  gathered  up 
or  re-absorbed  into  their  original  source,  which  supreme 
gathering  up  he  calls  0€ajo-t<r,  or  the  Deification  of 
all  things.  Evidently  the  main  elements  of  the  Neo- 
Platonic  philosophy  had  transferred  themselves  to 
Erigena  with  scarcely  any  perceptible  difference.  The 
foundation  of  his  system,  as  well  as  that  of  the 
Alexandrian  teachers,  was  the  evolution  of  ail  things 
from  the  Absolute,  of  whom  all  forms  of  existence  are 
simply  theophanies  ;  the  universe  is  gathered  up  into  the 
One,  the  original  essence  of  Being  ;  and,  as  He  neither 
creates  nor  is  created,  all  forms  of  Being  are  but  mani- 
festations of  Him,  forming  one  subject,  but  many 
accidents.  It  follows,  then,  that  as  all  things  are  but 
one  great  Theophany,  everything  necessarily  occupying 
its  own  place,  evil  as  such  cannot  exist ;  and  hence 
Erigena  insisted  that  evil  only  existed  for  the  sake  of 
good,  or  as  the  means  whereby  good  is  produced  and 
manifested.  This  necessarily  led  him  a  step  further  in 
the  same  line,  that  sin  in  individuals  may  be  the 
transition  point  of  evolution,  and  will  tend  towards  that 
final  Deification  or  restoration  of  all  things  in  God,  to 
which  his  system  naturally  leads. 

The  view  taken  by  Erigena  of  the  Deity,  that  He  is 
the  substance  of  all  things,  made  it  necessary  for  him 
to  discard  the  view  of  Aristotle,  that  individual  or  con- 
crete things  are  substances  of  which  the  general  may 
be  predicated,  but  in  which  the  accidental  is  contained. 
He  regarded  all  things  as  being  contained  in  the  Divine 
Substance,  the  individual  being  inherent  in  the  general, 
the  general  existing  in  individuals  as  in  its  natural 
parts.     This  teaching  differs  also  from  Plato's  doctrine 


yOfJN  SCOTUS—ERIGENA.  47 

of  Ideas  ;  for  whereas  he  taught  that  individuals  were 
copies  of  the  Ideas  existing  in  the  Deity,  Erigena 
identifies  the  relation  of  accidents  to  the  subjects  in 
which  they  are  immanent.  Erigena  affirms  this  as 
the  doctrine  both  of  Dionysius  and  his  commentator, 
Maxirrrus  ;  and  made  a  vigorous,  though  not  successful, 
effort  to  reconcile  it  with  the  doctrines  of  the  Church. 
If  this  were  true  doctrine,  then  the  teaching  of  the 
Bible  and  the  Church  concerning  the  personality  of 
God  must  be  rejected ;  and  Erigena  attempted  to  show 
that  God  may  be  conceived  of  as  a  Person  in  imagina- 
tion, and  not  in  thought.  He  made  a  similar  effort  to 
reconcile  his  views  with  the  teaching  of  the  Church  on 
the  subject  of  the  Trinity,  by  asserting  that  Tri-Unity 
could  not  be  predicated  of  God  in  Himself  as  the 
Absolute,  but  only  of  His  development  or  outcome. 
Thus,  he  calls  the  Father  the  essentia ;  the  Son,  the 
sapie7itia;  and  the  Spirit,  the  vita  Dei  ;^  but  these  were 
mere  nominal  distinctions,  and  had  no  corresponding 
distinction  of  essence  in  the  Godhead.  His  view  of 
the  final  absorption  of  all  things  into  the  Deity  was 
also  entirely  out  of  harmony  with  the  teaching  of  the 
Church  on  everlasting  punishments. 

The  views  of  Erigena  of  the  nature  and  oflFice  of 
evil  necessarily  led  him  to  a  theory  of  redemption 
which  could  not  be  held  otherwise  than  dangerous  by 
the  orthodox  Church  teachers.  Redemption  indeed, 
as  usually  understood,  has  no  place  in  his  system. 
The  incarnation  of  the  Son  he  held  to  be  a  revelation 
of  the  Divine  character  in  such  guise  of  human  nature 
as  a  Doketist  might  have  accepted,  for  he  states  that 
it  could  not  be  that  the  Infinite  Father  could  be 
revealed  in  finite  form.  The  Redemption,  he  afiir.)K<=, 
'  "De  Div.  Nat.,"i.,  14. 


48  GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

is  a  reduction  of  all  things  to  their  primordial  causes; 
and  his  anxiety  is  not  to  enable  nnan  to  escape  from 
the  death  of  sin  to  the  life  of  righteousness,  but  to  aid 
him  in  escaping  from  the  material  to  the  ideal,  to  rise 
from  the  concrete  type  to  the  metaphysical  Archetype. 
But  again,  with  a  strange  inconsistency  in  his  logic,  he 
taught  that  the  final  absorption  of  self  in  God  was 
confined  to  the  blessed,  and  that  the  impenitent  are 
punished  hereafter  by  fearful  and  horrible  illusions  of 
their  own  creating. 

In  viewing  the  whole  theological  teaching  of  Erigena, 
it  must  be  reckoned  as  a  system  pantheistic  in  its  basis, 
with  a  biblical  terminology,  surrounded  with  eccle- 
siastical accidents  and  functionaries,  the  pantheistic 
element  being  largely  in  excess  of  any  other.  Strange 
to  say,  these  teachings  were  so  much  in  advance  of  the 
current  learning  and  understanding,  that  they  challenged 
no  special  criticism  at  the  time  either  favourable  or 
unfavourable,  although  their  author  became  involved  in 
controversies  which  drew  upon  him  ecclesiastical  atten- 
tion and  censure. 

In  this  optts  magnum  of  Erigena  the  foundation  was 
laid  for  the  long-continued  and  virulent  disputes  of  the 
Schoolmen  on  Nominalism  and  Realism.  He  taught 
that  Universals  (Ideas)  exist  beforCj  and  also  in,  the 
individual  object.*  Thus  he  ranks  as  a  Realist,  clearly 
and  distinctly  pronounced,  and  his  whole  system  tends 
to  Realism,  excepting  where  he  becomes  confused  by 
self-contradiction,  making  it  possible  for  his  opponents 
to  deny  that  Universals  substantially  existed,  but  could 
only  be  conceived  of  as  subjective  forms. 

In  his   "  Moral   and    Metaphysical    Philosophy "   the 
Rev.   F.   D.   Maurice    earnestly,  and   even  almost  pas- 
Note  C. 


JOHN  SCOTUS—ERIGENA.  49 

sionately,    argues   against   Erigena   being   ranked    as   a 
Pantheist;'  but  he  is  unable  to  give  any  reason  for  the 
position,   except    that    he    professed    full    beh'ef   in    the 
dogmas  of  the  Church,  and  that  he  manifested  a  spirit 
oi  tender  and  devout  spirituality  in  some  of  his  writing.^. 
This  all   will  gladly  admit;    but   none   the  less  is  his 
philosophical  system  based  on  the  doctrines  of  the  Neo- 
Platonists,  and   developed   in  some  respects  more  fully 
than  they  had  ventured  to  go.     Mr.  Maurice  is  indeed 
obliged  to  admit  that  in  the  last  book  of  '^  Dc  Divisione 
Natural'  the  Neo-Platonic  principles  are  expanded  with 
great    fulness,   and    that   not   only   with    Plotinus    and 
Proclus,  but  with  ancient  Buddhists  and  modern  Ger- 
mans, he  speaks  of  the  Absolute,  in  the  contemplation 
of  which  the  pure  and  perfected  soul  at  last  loses  itself 
for  ever."     This  is  the  logical  and  inevitable  result  of 
his  system;  and  if  he  writes,  as    indeed   he  did,  in   a 
strain   which   sometimes   differed    from   this,    it   is    but 
another  instance  amidst  many  how  a  man  may  be  truer 
in  the  depths  of  his  religious  feeling  than  in  the  con- 
clusions of  his  philosophical   system.      The  devotional 
element  in  his  nature,  which  had  been   nursed   in   the 
warm    spiritual    atmosphere   of   the   Irish   monasteries, 
seems   often   to    have   overmastered   the    metaphysical, 
and   then  he  rose  to  the  apprehension  of  grander  and 
truer  doctrine.      Some  of  his  writings  vibrate  with  the 
holiest  impulses,  as  an  instance  of  which  Mr.  Maurice 
gives    the    following    passage,^    which    he    calls    "The 
Student's  Prayer  "  : — 

"  Assuredly  the  Divine  clemency  suflereth  not  those  who 
piously  and  humblv  seek  the  truth  to  wander  in  the  darkness  of 
ignorance,  to  fall  into  the  pits  of  false  opinions,  and  to  perish 

'  Maurice,  "  Mor.  and  Met.  Phil.,"  i.  468,  etc. 
-  Note  D.  *  Ibid.,  i.  494. 

4 


so         GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

in  them.     For  there  is  no  worse  death  than  the  ignorance  of 
truth,  no  deeper  whirlpool  than  that  in  which  false  things  are 
chosen  in  place  of  the  true,  which  is  the  very  property  of  error. 
For  out  of  these,  foul  and  abominable  monsters  are  wont  to 
shape  themselves  in  human  thoughts,  while  loving  and  following 
which,  as  if  they  were  true,  wishing  to  embrace  flying  shadows 
and  not  able  to  do  it,  the  carnal  soul  falls  ofttimes  into  an  abyss 
of  misery.     Wherefore  we  ought  continually  to  pray  and  to  say, 
'  God,  our  salvation  and  redemption,  who  hast  given  us  nature, 
give  us  also  grace.     Manifest  Thy  light  to  us,  feeling  after  Thee 
and  seeking  Thee  in  shades  of  ignorance.     Recall  us  from  our 
errors.    Stretch  out  Thy  right  hand  to  us  weak  ones  who  cannot 
without  Thee  come  to  Thee.    Break  the  clouds  of  vain  phanta- 
sies which  suffer  not  the  eye  of  the  mind  to  behold  Thee  in  that 
way  in  which  Thou  permittest  those  that  long  to  behold  that  face 
of  Thine,  though  it  is  invisible,  which  is  their  rest,  the  end  beyond 
which  they  crave  for  nothing,  seeing  that  there  cannot  be  any 
good  beyond  it  that  is  higher  than  itself" 

The  following  prayer  is  also  tenderly  sensitive,  with 
a  beautiful  devoutness  : — 

"  O  Lord  Jesus,  I  ask  no  other  reward,  no  other  happiness, 
except  that  of  Thy  pure  words,  which  are  inspired  by  the  Holy 
Spirit,  without  any  erroneous  or  fallacious  theories,  so  that  I 
may  perceive  where  Thou  dwellest,  and  by  earnest  searching 
and  diligence  be  introduced  to  that  abode,'" 

In  the  year  831  Paschasius  Radbertus,  Abbot  of 
Corbie,  drew  up  a  treatise  on  the  Eucharist  for  the  use 
of  the  younger  monks  of  the  Church.  In  844,  at  the 
royal  request,  he  presented  the  King,  Charles  the  Bald, 
with  a  copy.  In  this  work  the  real  presence  of  the 
Saviour  in  the  elements  of  the  Lord's  Supper  was 
strongly  affirmed,  was  buttressed  by  many  arguments, 
and  was  illustrated  by  many  highly-coloured  and 
rhetorical  quotations  from  the  early  Fathers  of  the 
Church.  The  doctrine,  afterwards  so  famous  by  the 
'  "De  Div.  Nat.,"iv.  306. 


y  OHN  SCO  TUS—ERIGENA .  5 1 

name  of  Transubstentiation,  was  broadly  taught,  although 
Kadbertus  insisted  that  the  bread  and  the  wine  should 
be  received  by  both  the  priesthood  and  the  laity.  This 
teaching  was  strongly  protested  against  by  many  of  the 
most  learned  men  of  the  day.  Rabanus  Maurus,  Wala- 
frid  Strabo,  Florus,  Christian  Druthman,  and  others, 
denounced  the  idea  of  any  other  than  a  spiritual  change 
in  the  Eucharist  as  being  both  unscriptural  and  novel. 
Ratramnus  examined  the  book  at  the  request  of  King 
Charles,  and  prepared  a  refutation  of  it,  which  he 
published  under  the  title  "  De  Corpore  et  Sanguine 
Domini."  He  divided  this  into  two  parts — the  first 
dealing  with  the  question  whether  the  body  and  blood 
of  Christ  are  taken  by  the  faithful  communicant  in 
mystery  or  in  fact;  the  second,  whether  it  is  the  same 
body  as  that  in  which  Christ  was  born,  suffered,  and 
rose  from  the  dead.  In  treating  of  these  points  Rat- 
ramnus declared  that  there  was  a  real,  but  not  a  corporeal 
presence  in  the  Eucharist.  Whilst  the  .subject  was  in 
vigorous  controversy,  Erigena  was  invited  by  Charles 
to  write  upon  it.  If  he  did  so,  his  production  has  been 
lost,  although  some,  without  sufficient  reason,  have 
ascribed  to  him  the  work  of  Ratramnus.  His  opinion 
can  only  be  gathered  from  indirect  evidence,  that  he 
declared  the  Eucharist  to  be  simply  a  commemorative 
rite,  and  that  he  was  reckoned  to  be  heretical  by  other 
Church  teachers  on  this  subject.  Paschasius  was  not 
deterred  from  vigorously  urging  his  views  by  the 
opposition  which  they  excited;  he  defended  them  with 
a  great  show  of  piety;  and  in  an  age  which  craved 
after  the  marvellous  and  miraculous,  it  is  not  wonderful 
that  they  won  favour,  and  were  accepted  by  large 
numbers  in  the  Church.      Erigena's  treatise^  must  have 

^  Note  E. 


52  GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

exercised  some  influence  •  and  attracted  great  attention 
in  this  discussion,  as  it  said  that  part  of  the  punishment 
ot  Berengarius  fur  promulgating  similar  views  to  those 
it  contained  was  to  publicly  commit  this  work  to  the 
flames.  Whether  this  was  so  or  not,  it  was  condemned 
by  the  councils  before  which  Berengarius  was  ar- 
raigned/ 

Another  controversy  sprang  up  after  this  in  which 
Erigena  became  more  closely  entafigled.  The  ruling 
spirit  of  the  Western  Church  was  Augustine.  He  was 
the  standard  of  orthodoxy,  and  he  reigned  with  an 
undisputed  sway.  In  one  respect,  however,  the  rigidity 
of  his  doctrine  had  become  imperceptibly  alleviated  by 
the  lapse  of  time  and  the  impinging  influence  of  other 
teaching.  The  dogma  of  Predestination  as  taught  by 
liim  had  been  toned  to  a  milder  strain  in  the  general 
ministrations  of  the  Church,  and  was  now  held  so  divested 
of  its  original  sharpness,  that  the  prevailing  view  tended 
almost  to  semi-pelagianism.  The  Augustinian  doctrine 
was  now  to  be  revived  in  all  its  asperity  by  Gottschalk, 
the  son  of  a  Saxon  Count  v/ho  had  been  placed  by  his 
father  in  the  monastery  of  Fulda,  but  who  had  been 
removed  to  the  cloister  of  Orbais  in  the  diocese  of 
Soissons.  He  steeped  his  soul  in  the  writings  of 
Augustine  and  of  his  follower  Fulgentius,  Bishop  of 
Ruspe,  and  urged  the  doctrine  of  Predestination  with 
such  rigour  as  to  imperil  the  doctrine  of  human  free- 
dom. The  usual  language  of  the  Church  now  was  that 
the  righteous  were  predestinate,  and  the  wicked  fore- 
knozvn.  Augustine  applied  the  term  reprobate  to  the 
wicked,  but  Gottschalk  applied  the  term  predestinate  to 
both  classes.  He  insisted  that  there  was  a  twofold 
system  of  decrees,  prcedestinatio  duplex,  which  consigned 
'  Milman,  "  Hisf.  Lat.  Chris.,"  iii.  393. 


y  0  HN  SCO  TUS—ERIGEx\'A .  5  3 

the   good   and    the    bad,   elect   and    reprobate   ah'kc,  to 
portions  allotted  to  them   from   eternity  irrespective  of 
their   conduct  in  the  present  life.     Thus  he   identified 
Divine   foreknowledge  with   predestination,  he  affirmed 
that  the  wicked  were  as  much  destined  to  be  lost  as  the 
righteous  to  be  saved,  that  each  were  so  fated   by  an 
arbitrary  act  of  the   Deity,  and    that  those  doomed  to 
eternal   perdition    could    never  be    more   than   noniincU 
subjects  of  grace,  or   more  than  apparent  partakers  of 
the  sacraments.      A  warm  controversy  arose  concerning 
these  views  ;  Rabanus  Maurus,  Archbishop  of  Mayence, 
and  a  man  of  profound  learning,  issued  a  reply  to  them, 
distinguishing  between    the  Divine  foreknowledge  and 
predestination,  and    urging  that  only  those   whom   the 
Lord   foreknows  as   hopelessly  wicked  are   doomed  to 
eternal    perdition.       Gottschalk    before   the    Synod    of 
Mayence  in  848   defended  his  views,  declaring  that  the 
Scriptures,  which  speak  of  Christ  dying  for  "  all   men," 
should  be  limited  to  the  elect,  and  that  the  rest  of  the 
human    family  as   the   result  of  a  Divine   decree  were 
hopelessly    consigned    to    everlasting    darkness.       The 
Synod  declared  against  him,  and  he  was  handed  over  to 
Hincmar,  his  metropolitan  bishop,  a  man  proud,  perse- 
cuting, and    restless,  the  worst   possible   hands  for  any 
one  deemed    heretical  to  fall  into,  who  summoned  him 
before  an  assembly  of  the  various  ecclesiastical  orders 
held  in  presence  of  the  King  at  Chiersey  in  849.      Here 
again  Gottschalk  boldly  defended  his  opinions,  but  was 
condemned    not   only  for  holding  such   views    but    for 
treating    with   contempt    his    lawful    superiors.       The 
assembly  declared    him  to  be  a  teacher   of  erroneous 
opinions,  he  was  condemned   and  sentenced  to  be  first 
whipped   and    then    imprisoned.       He   was   so  cruelly 
scourged  that    in  agony  he  consented  to  cast  into  the 


54  GREA  T  SCIJOOLAJK.V  OF  THE  MWDLK  AGE.'^. 

flames   a  writing   he  had   composed   in   defence  of  his 
views,  and    which   consisted  only   of  extracts   from  the 
fathers  and  from  the  Bible.      He  was  then  imprisoned 
in   the   monastery   of    Hautvilliers    in    the   diocese   of 
Rheims,  where  he  Hngered  until  868.     Many  attempts 
were  made  to  force  him  to  abjure  his  doctrine,  but  in 
vain.     Hincmar  refused  to  grant  him  the  communion 
in   his    last   sickness,  or  to   assure  him   of  burial  with 
Christian  rites,  except  upon   an  unconditional  recanta- 
tion.    But  he   would  not  yield  ;  he  quietly  renounced 
these  earthly  consolations,  and  died  peacefully,  holding 
his  faith  in  patience,  and  looking  for  his  comfort  to  the 
Father  in   whom  is  all   fulness  of  love  and  joy.     The 
severe  treatment  to  which  he  was  subjected  kept  alive 
the  controversy  ;  many  who  had  entertained  sympathy 
with  his  views  were  indignant  at  the  bitter  suffering  he 
endured,  and  not  only  protested  against  his  persecutions, 
but  partially  defended   his    position,  arguing   that  "  the 
predestination  of  the  wicked  is  not  absolute,  but  is  con- 
ditioned  on  the  Divine   foreknowledge  of  all  sins  that 
would  result  from  the  voluntary  act  of  Adam."^ 

Hincmar  found  that  to  use  weapons  of  intolerance 
against  heresy  was  not  the  most  successful  method  of 
battling  with  it,  and  turned  to  Erigena  to  aid  him  by 
his  pen  in  the  conflict.  Charles  also  intimated  his  desire 
that  he  should  take  part  in  the  fray.  In  851  he  issued 
his  famous  work  De  Divina  Prcedestinatione,  which  has 
been  preserved,  and  which  from  the  nature  of  its  senti- 
ments and  the  vigour  of  its  style  could  not  but  exercise 
much  influence  in  that  age.  He  argued  in  this  treatise 
for  the  freedom  of  the  will  on  philosophic  grounds,  and 
in  defending  his  position  came  into  collision  with  all 
established  doctrines  of  the  nature  of  good  and  evil. 
*  Hardwick," Church  Hist.  Middle  Ages,"  I75- 


J  OHN  SCO  TUS—ERIGENA.  55 

He  ingeniously  sought  to  maintain  by  quotations  from 
his  Avorks  that  Augustine  believed  that  as  evil  was 
simply  a  negative  it  could  not  therefore  be  predestined 
by  God.  He  argued  that  the  idea  of  a  prcEdestinatio 
cannot,  properly  speaking,  be  applied  to  God,  since  with 
Him  there  is  neither  a  past  nor  a  future.  As,  however, 
sin  ever  carries  its  own  punishment  with  it,  there  is  no 
need  of  a  predestination  of  punishment.  Evil  does  not 
exist  at  all  as  regards  God,  and  therefore  both  the 
prescience  and  the  predestination  of  evil  on  His  part  is 
out  of  the  question.'  Such  a  line  of  argument  was 
equally  embarrassing  to  friends  and  foes,  and  such  an 
excitement  arose  concerning  it  that  Hincmar  was  obliged 
to  disown  the  advocate  he  had  summoned  to  his  aid. 
Prudentius,  the  Bishop  of  Troyes,  and  Florus,  master  of 
the  cathedral  school  at  Lyons,  wrote  warmly  in  reply 
to  Erigena,  charging  him  with  Pelagianism  and  Origen- 
ism,  taxing  him  with  unfair  treatment  of  his  opponents, 
and  declaring  him  to  have  substituted  philosophical 
subtleties  for  Scripture  statements  and  Church  authority. 
In  853  a  council  met  at  Quiercy,  which  again  con- 
demned the  views  of  Gottschalk  ;  but  Remigius,  the 
Archbishop  of  Lyons,  wrote  a  book  against  the  decisions 
of  the  council,  very  abusive  of  Erigena,  stating  that  he 
was  ignorant  of  the  very  words  of  Scripture,  and  that 
instead  of  being  consulted  on  points  of  faith  he  should 
either  be  pitied  as  a  man  out  of  his  mind  or  anathema- 
tized as  a  heretic.^ 

In  855  a  council  was  held  at  Valence,  over  which 
Remigius  presided,  which  condemned  nineteen  propo- 
sitions  extracted    from   the  book  of  Erigena,  which  it 

•  Hagenbach,  "  Hist,  of  Doct.,"  ii.  52  ;  Guizot,  "  Hist,  of  Civ.  in 
France,"  Lect.  v. 
^  Robertson,  "  Hist,  of  Church,"  ii.  331. 


56  GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

courteously  nicknamed  the  "  porridge  of  the  Scots." 
After  this  the  controversy  slackened  in  its  fierceness, 
and  in  859  a  council  was  held  at  Savonieres,  when 
seven  hundred  and  fifty  prelates  agreed  to  ignore  the 
decisions  of  the  councils  of  Quiercy  and  Valence,  and 
adopted  several  mild  and  general  affirmations  of  the 
Augustinian  doctrine.  Then  the  combatants,  as  if 
wearied  of  the  struggle,  mutually  laid  down  their  arms. 
After  this  controversy  Erigena  fades  out  of  sight  in 
history.  It  has  been  affirmed,  although  without  suffi- 
cient evidence,  that  he  was  invited  to  England  by  the 
great  and  munificent  patron  of  learning,  King  Alfred, 
who  bestowed  on  him  an  appointment  at  Malmesbury 
and  another  at  Ethelingey,  and  that  in  a  passionate 
outbreak  but  too  common  in  that  day  he  was  stabbed 
by  the  boys  under  his  care.'  The  authorities  who  affirm 
this  are  Asser  and  Matthew  of  Westminster,  but  the 
weight  of  evidence  is  decidedly  against  it.""  It  is  certain 
that  after  the  condemnation  of  his  works  by  the  council 
of  Valence,  Pope  Nicholas  requested  Charles  to  send 
him  to  Rome,  that  he  might  be  kept  from  further  mis- 
chief. Charles,  however,  continued  to  protect  him,  and 
it  is  probable  that  he  ended  his  days  in  France  about 

Erigena  is  undoubtedly  the  most  prominent  and 
interesting  literary  character  of  the  early  Middle  Age. 
He  was  a  man  of  unremitting  industry  ;  he  amassed 
such  large  stores  of  information  as  made  him  the 
wonder  of  his  contemporaries  ;  and  he  had  great 
acutencss  of  mind.     He  was  the   greatest  intellectual 

'  S.  Turner,  "Hist,  of  Anglo  Sax.,"  iii.  365. 

2  Robertson,  "  Hist,  of  Church,"  ii.  327. 

*  Haureau,  "Nouvelle  Biog.  Gen.  Tour.,''  xvi. 


\ 


.JOHN  scores— ERIGENA.  57 

force  of  the  ninth  century  ;  but  though  he  had  a  bold 
and  adventurous  mind,   he    did    not   manifest   thorough 
originahty  in  his  thinking.      He  seems   to  have  had   a 
special   aptitude    for   gathering  knowledge  from   many 
sources,   and    then   constructing   systems  and   theories  ; 
but    in    many    places    the    logical    consistency    of   his 
theories  is  marred  by  his  desire  to  remain  within  the 
Hmits    of    Church    teaching,    and     by    the    occasional 
ascendency  of  the  spiritual  over   the    metaphysical   in 
his  nature.      He  rendered  immense  service  to  the  cause 
of  learning  in  his  own  and  the  following  centuries;  and 
especially  he  conferred  a  great  blessing  on  the  world  in 
becoming  the  leader  of  a  line  of  brilliant  and  powerful 
thinkers,  who  fought  out  to  a  successful  issue  the  right 
of   man's  judgment    and    reason    to    pronounce   upon 
matters  of  opinion  and  doctrine,  in  opposition   to  the 
absolute  supremacy  over  reason  and  conscience  claimed 
by  the  Church.      Erigena  was  thus  a  Protestant  born 
out  of  due  time,  and  the  forerunner  of  those  who  battled 
against    spiritual    assumption    until    the    Reformation. 
He  anticipated   many   of  the    metaphysical    questions 
which  have  since  agitated  Europe,  and  which  are  being 
discussed  now  as  earnestly  as  ever.      His  theories  were 
framed  and  published  when  the  world  was  not  prepared 
to  properly  estimate  or  appreciate  them,  and  therefore 
the  heretical  character  of  his  philosophy  was  not  fully 
recognised  for  some  ages.      He  preserved  a  great  re- 
putation; and  in  the  thirteenth  century,  when  the  great 
heresy  of  the  Albigenses  burst  forth,  his  books — par- 
ticularly his  great  works  '' De  Divisione  Natnru!"  and 
his  translation  of  Dionysius — were  much  read  and  studied 
in  Southern  France.     To  such  an  extent  was  this  the 
case,  that  Pope   Honorius   HI.  ordered  a  search  to  be 
made  for  the  manuscripts  of  his  books  in   all  libraries. 


5S  GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

that  they  might  be  sent  to  Rome,  to  be  there  burnt' 
When  an  Enj^lish  edition  of  his  great  work  was  pub- 
lished in  England  by  Gale  of  Oxford  in  1681,  it  was 
written  in  the  Index  Expurgatorius  in  the  Vatican. 
Notwithstanding  these  persecuting  measures,  Erigena 
has  ever  stood  high  in  the  estimation  of  even  Roman 
Catholic  theologians.  He  is  generally  reckoned  to  have 
been  the  harbinger  of  the  Middle  Age  Realism;  to 
have  been  the  interpreter  of  many  of  the  teachings 
both  of  Plato  and  Aristotle;  and  to  have  antedated  in 
many  of  their  speculations  the  German  philosophers  of 
this  century. 

Note  A. 
"  In  the  Hegelian  system,  Theism,  with  all  its  mighty  influence 
on  the  human  mind,  is  compromised ;  for  the  Deity  is  a  process 
ever  going  on,  but  never  accomplished  ;  nay,  the  divine  conscious- 
ness is  absolutely  one  with  the  advancing  consciousness  of  mankind. 
This  being  the  case,  the  hope  of  immortality  likewise  perishes,  for 
death  is  but  the  return  of  the  individual  to  the  infinite,  and  man  is 
innihilated,  though  the  Deity  will  live  eternally.  Religion,  if  not 
destroyed  by  the  Hegelian  philosophy,  is  absorbed  in  it,  and  as 
religion  for  ever  disappears."  "The  system  of  Hegel  is  utterly 
inconsistent  with  the  results  of  psychology — i.e.^  with  the  most 
obvious  facts  of  human  consciousness.  Human  freedom  entirely 
vanishes  under  its  shadow.  The  man  is  but  the  mirror  of  the 
absolute  ;  his  consciousness  must  ever  roll  onwards  by  the  fixed 
law  of  all  being,  his  personality  is  sunk  in  the  infinite  ;  he  can 
never  be  aught  but  what  he  really  is." — Morell,  "  Hist.  Modern 
PhiL,"  ii.  158-9. 

Note  B. 

A  few  sentences  from  the  commencement  of  this  treatise  translated 
by  Mr.  Sharon  Turner  will  illustrate  the  vigour  of  his  style,  and 
present  an  idea  of  his  system. 

'"Nature  may  be  divided  into  that  which  creates  and  is  not 
created ;  that  which  is  created  and  creates ;  that  which  is  created 
and  does  not  create;  and  that  which  neither  creates  nor  is  created. 

'  Guizot,  "  Hist.  Civ.  in  France,"  ii.  390. 


I 


7  OIIN  SCO  7C'S-  -FJUCENA.  5^> 

"The  essences,  or  whal  from  Aristoilc  in  thoso  days  they  called 
the  subst.mce,  of  all  visible  or  invisible  creatures  cannot  be  com- 
prehended by  the  intellect ;  but  whatever  is  perreivcd  in  ever)ihing> 
or  by  the  corporal  sense,  is  nothing  else  but  an  accident,  which  is 
known  either  by  its  quality  or  cjuantity,  form,  matter,  or  diiferences, 
or  by  its  time  or  place.     Not  what  it  is,  but  how  it  is. 

"  The  first  order  of  being  is  the  Deity ;  He  is  the  essence  of  all 
things. 

"The  second  begins  from  the  most  exalted  intellectual  virtue 
nearest  about  the  Deity,  and  descends  from  the  sublimest  angel  to 
the  lowest  part  of  the  rational  and  irrational  creation.  The  three 
superior  orders  are — ist,  the  Cherubim,  Seraphim,  and  Thrones; 
the  2nd,  the  Virtues,  Powers,  and  Dominations  ;  the  3rd,  the  Prin- 
cipalities, Archangels,  and  Angels. 

*'  The  Cause  of  all  things  is  far  removed  from  those  which  have 
been  created  by  it.  Hence  the  reasons  of  created  things  which  are 
etcinally  and  unchangeably  in  it,  must  be  also  wholly  removed  from 
their  subjects. 

"In  the  angelic  intellects  there  are  certain  theophanies  of  these 
reasons  ;  that  is,  certain  comprehensible,  divine  apparitions  of  the 
intelkclual  nature.  The  divine  essence  is  fully  comprehensible  by 
no  intelligent  creature. 

"  Angels  see  not  the  causes  themselves  of  things  which  subsist  in 
the  Divine  essence,  but  certain  Divine  apparitions  or  theophanies 
of  the  eternal  causes  whose  images  they  are.  In  this  manner 
angels  always  behold  God.  So  the  just  in  this  life,  while  in  the 
extremity  of  death,  and  in  the  future  will  see  Him  as  the  angels  do. 

"  We  do  not  see  Him  by  Himself  becau-je  angels  do  not.  This  is 
not  possible  to  any  creature.  But  we  shall  contemplate  the  theo- 
phanies which  He  shall  make  upon  us  according  to  the  height  of 
His  sanctity  and  wisdom."— 5/mrd7«  Turner,  "Anglo-Saxons,"  iii. 
391-2 

Note  C. 

The  views  of  Plato  and  Aristotle  are  thus  clearly  defined  by  a 
fitting  hand  : — 

"  The  Platonic  Idea  {lUa  or  ei3o?)  is  the  pure  archetypal  essence 
in  which  those  things  which  are  together  subsumed  under  the  same 
concept  participate."  "The  Idea  is  not  the  essence  immanent  in 
the  various  similar  individual  objects  as  such,  but  rather  this 
essence  conceived  as  nerfect  in  its  kind,  or  existing  per  se.     The 


Co  GREA  T  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

idea  respects  the  universal  ;  but  it  also  is  represented  by  Plato  as  a 
spaceless  and  timeless  archetype  of  individuals."  "To  express 
the  relation  of". individuals  to  their  corresponding  ideas,  Plato 
employs  the  term  'participation'  (jitde^is),  and  also  'imitation' 
(nifiTjcns  ofioima-is).  The  idea  is  the  archetype  {irapddeiyfia)  ;  indi- 
vidual objects  are  images  (el'ScoXa  ouoiaara).  The  idea  though 
existing  independently  {avro  kuO'  avro)  has  also  a  certain  com- 
munity {Koivcivia)  with  things  ;  it  is  in  some  sense  present  {napovcrla) 
in  them,  but  the  specific  nature  of  this  community  Plato  has  neg- 
lected more  precisely  to  define." — Ucberweg,  "Hist,  of  Phil.,"  I. 
115-6. 

The  Aristotelian  Notion. 
"  The  principles  common  to  all  spheres  of  reality  are  given  by 
Aristotle  as  four,  viz.,  Form  or  Essence,  Matter  or  Substratum, 
Moving  or  Efficient  Cause,  and  End.  The  principle  of  Form  or 
Essence  is  the  Aristotelian  substitute  for  the  Platonic  Idea.  Aris- 
totle argues  against  the  Platonic  (or,  at  least,  vi^hat  he  held  as  the 
Platonic)  view,  that  the  ideas  exist  for  themselves  apart  from  the 
concrete  objects  which  are  copied  from  them,  affirming,  however, 
on  his  own  part,  that  the  logical,  subjective  concept  has  a  real, 
objective  correlate,  in  the  essence  immanent  in  the  objects  of  the 
concept.  As  the  one  apart  from  and  beside  the  many,  the  Idea  does 
not  exist ;  none  the  less  must  a  unity  be  assumed  as  (objectively) 
present  in  the  many.  The  word  substance  (pva-ia)  in  its  primary 
and  proper  signification  belongs  to  the  concrete  and  individual ; 
only  in  a  secondary  sense  can  it  be  applied  to  the  genus.  But 
although  the  universal  has  no  independent  existence  apart  from  the 
individual,  it  is  yet  first  in  worth  and  rank,  most  significant,  most 
knowable  by  nature,  and  the  proper  subject  of  knowledge.  This, 
however,  is  true,  not  of  every  common  notion,  but  only  of  such 
notions  as  represent  the  essential  in  the  individual  objects.  These 
universal  notions  combine  in  one  whole  all  the  essential  attributes 
of  their  objects,  both  the  generic  and  the  specific  attributes  ;  they 
represent  the  essential  form." — Ueberweg,  "  Hist,  of  Phil.,"  i.  T  57. 

The  following  extract  may  be  of  value  to  some  readers,  as 
defining  the  relation  of  Aristotle  to  Plato  in  this  controversy  : — 

"  The  ideas  of  Form  and  Matter — the  one  as  that  which  con- 
stitutes every  substance  what  it  is  ;  the  other  as  its  condition  and 
si7ie  qua  non — lay  at  the  foundation  of  the  metaphysics  of  Aristotle, 
and  determined  his  thoughts  upon  every  other  subject.     These 


JOHN  SCO  TUS—F.RIGENA .  6 1 

ideas  arc  closely  connected  with  logic,  so  that  the  fact  of  anything 
being  capable  of  definition  is  with  him  the  test  of  its  having  a  form 
and  beinc^  a  substance.  This  is  a  distinction  of  great  value  and 
importance,  but  it  can  only  be  admitted  as  a  distinction  in  and  for 
the  mind.  For  the  moment  it  becomes  more  than  this  -we  get 
upon  the  Platonic  ground  which  Aristotle  believed  to  be  merely 
imaginary.  His  forms  become  the  ideas  of  Plato,  ami  these  ideas 
derive  their  meaning  from  the  reality  of  One  who  is  Himself  The 
Being,  not  merely  a  particular  form,  though  it  be  the  highest  form 
of  being." 

Note  D. 
M.  Saint- Rene  Taillandior,  in  his  work  "Scot  Erigenc  et  la 
Philosophie  Scholastiquc,"  earnestly  defends  Erigena  from  the 
charge  of  Pantheism  in  these  words  :— "  When  Erigena  refers  to 
final  union  with  God  and  the  deification  of  the  soul,  he  always 
maintains  the  permanence  of  human  personality  in  the  bosom  of 
the  Divine  soul  which  receives  and  embraces  it.  One  may  remark 
the  comparisons  which  he  employs  to  illustrate  this  ineffable  union, 
t'.r.,  those  of  iron  which  melts  and  disappears  in  the  fire,  and  of  air 
which  is  invisible  and  yet  subsists  in  the  light  of  the  sun  "  (p.  191). 
But  the  passage  here  referred  to  unmistakably  teaches  such  a 
final  absorption  of  the  soul  into  God  as  is  quite  inconsistent  with 
the  retention  of  personality.  See  "  De  Div.  Nat.^''  lib.  i,,  c.  10  : — 
"  Sicut  ergo  totus  aer  lux,  totumque  ferrum  liquefactum  ut  di.ximus 
igneum  imoetian  ignis  apparet  maneutibus  tamen  eorum  sub- 
stantiis  :  ita  sano  intellectu  accipiendum,  quia  post  finem  hujus 
mundi  omnis  natura;  sive  corporea  si^^e  incorporea  solus  Deus  esse 
videbiliir,  natune  integritate  permanente,  ut  et  Deus  qui  per 
seipsum  incomprehensibilis  est  in  creaturit  quodammodo  compre- 
hendatur,  ipsa  vero  creatura.  ineffabili  miraculo  in  Deum  vertatur." 

Note  E. 
Hincmar,  censuring  the  writings  of  Johannes  Scotus,  says  : — 
"  He  hath  other  errors  against  the  faith,  as  that  the  divinity  is 
triple  ;  that  the  sacrament  on  the  altar  is  not  the  true  body  and 
blood  of  Christ,  but  only  a  memorial  of  it ;  that  atigels  arc  cor- 
poreal ;  that  the  soul  of  man  is  not  in  the  body  ;  that  the  only 
pains  of  hell  are  in  the  remorse  of  conscience,  etc."— yfr//«, 
"  Obser.  Eccles.  Hist.,"  iii.,  90. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

YEARNINGS  FOR  LIGHT.— GERBERT ;  POPE 
SILVESTER  IL 


"  Cry,  faint  not :  either  Truth  is  bum 
Beyoivd  the  polar  gleam  forlorn, 
Or  in  the  gateways  of  the  mom. 

**  Cry,  faint  not,  climb  :  the  summits  slope 
Beyond  the  furthest  flights  of  hope, 
Wrapt  in  dense  cloud  from  base  to  cope. 

'*  Sometimes  a  little  corner  shines, 
As  over  ramy  mist  inclines 
A  gleaming  crag  with  belts  of  pines." 

Tennyson. 


IV. 
POPE  GERBERT. 

After  the  death  of  Erigena  the  hope  of  intellectual 
advancement  in  Europe  seemed  to  be  extinguished 
and  when  Alfred  the  Great  passed  from,  his  earthly 
kingdom  a  few  years  afterwards  the  last  apparent 
flicker  of  life  remaining  from  the  renaissance  of  learning 
in  the  ninth  century  departed.  At  this  point,  we  enter 
upon  the  Dark  Ages,  properly  so  called,  or  rather  com- 
monly so  called,  for  the  darkness  was  not  so  dense  as 
is  generally  understood.  At  any  rate  they  cannot  be 
said  to  have  lasted  more  than  about  a  century,  and 
even  in  that  century  there  was  considerable  intellectual 
activity  and  progress.  The  Church  also  was  making 
actual  progress,  although  it  was  not  of  that  character 
which  challenges  the  attention  of  the  casual  onlooker. 
It  is  true  that  during  this  period  the  secular  power 
was  losing  strength,  and  the  claims  of  ecclesiastical 
assumption  were  becoming  stronger,  the  lists  of  saints 
were  being  enlarged,  pilgrimages  with  the  usual  accom- 
paniments of  miracles  and  relics  were  increasingly  the 
fashion,  and  the  Papacy  exhibited  a  corruption  which 
was  scarcely  relieved  by  one  touch  of  culture,  or  con- 
doned by  one  healthy  blush  of  shame.  In  the  tenth 
century  twenty-eight  Popes  reigned  in  the  Church,  and 

5 


66  CREA  T  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

with  scarcely  one  exception  their  hvei;  were  scandalous 
■with  cruelty  and  debauchery.  The  result  was  that  the 
Papacy  repelled  from  itself  the  niscent  culture  and  the 
holiest  feeling^  of  the  age,  and  was  beginning  to  reap 
the  fruit  of  those  who  sow  unto  the  flesh,  and  of  the 
flesh  reap  corruption.  Still  these  Dark  Ages  were  not 
without  a  bright  and  hopciul  side.  As  though  to  keep 
hope  alive  in  Europe,  it  was  then  that  female  convents 
;5prang-  into  being,  which  became  a.  most  important 
factor  in  future  civilization  and  in  the  history  of 
Christianity.  For  amidst  the  extreme  licentiousness 
which  prevailed  amongst  nobles,  kings,  and  emperors, 
priests,  bir.hops,  and  popes,  it  was  of  th.e  first  con- 
■■.equcnce  that  the  idea  of  a  noble  womanhood  should 
be  preserved  ;  that  a  high  stand <ud  of  purity  and 
chastity  should  be  sot  uj);  and  when  days  were  dawning 
of  universal  and  unie^-traincd  license,  it  was  surely  of 
more  than  human  (.)nlering  that  a  home  should  be  pro- 
vided where  the  fr.ircst  ^'nd  tenderest  plant  of  human 
growth  should  be  protected  and  matured  for  the 
blessing  of  ail  future  time.  Nor  was  this  all  ;  the 
schools  and  universiti'^s  established  by  Charlemagne, 
and  more  notably  l)j,-  the  Mohammedans,  maintained  a 
position,  and  had  in  them  some  distinguished  teachers. 
In  many  quiet  monasteries  earnest  students  devoted 
themselves  to  the  consideration  of  great  theological 
and  jihilosophical  questions  ;  and  even  Hildebrand, 
whilst  bent  on  attaining  for  the  Papacy  the  maximum 
•A  power,  did  not  discourage  intellectual  progress,  but 
rather  prepared  its  way  in  the  future  by  the  great 
ecclesiastical  reforms  he  sought  to  carry  out. 

The  great  name  of  what  are  with  even  approximate 
fitness  called  the  Dark  Ages,  and  which  may  serve  as 
a  link  between   li^rigena  and  the  man  who  next  merits 


J'OPh  GEKIiERT.  67 

the  name  of  a  great  Schoolman,  was  Gcrbcrt.  lie  was 
not  a  Schoolman,  but  he  was  a  great  cncouragcr  and 
conservator  of  European  learning  in  the  latter  part  of 
the  tenth  century  ;  and  he  may  be  used  therefore  as  a 
trieans  of  bridging  the  period  between  Erigena  and 
Anselm  in  this  sketch  of  the  condition  of  human 
learning  in  that  age. 

Gerbcrt  was  born  in  Auvergne  about  the  middle  of 
tlie  tenth  century,  of  parents  in  the  humblest  ra:^.k  of 
life.  At  an  early  age  he  was  admitted  to  the  monastery 
of  Aurillac,  rm  establishment  founded  in  the  previous 
century  by  Count  St.  Gerard.  He  showed  extraordinary 
aptitude  for  learning,  and  attracted  the  attention  of  all 
around  him  by  the  proficiency  he  easily  obtained  in 
every  branch  of  letters.  Count  Borel,  of  Buxclona, 
was  on  a  pilgrimage  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Aurillac, 
and  visited  the  monastery.  He  saw  Gerbert,  and  being 
attracted  by  his  abilities,  invited  him  to  accotnpany 
him  to  Spain.  On  his  arrival  there  he  speedily  became 
expert  in  the  physical  sciences  which  were  taught  in 
the  Mohammedan  schools,  and  also  in  mathematics. 
He  was  able  to  sj^cak  with  singular  fluency  in  Arabic, 
and  was  well  versed  in  all  the  intellectual  accomplish- 
ments of  the  day.  He  then  visited  Rome  in  company 
with  Count  Borel,  and  was  horrified  to  observe  the 
contrast  between  the  learning  and  morality  of  the 
Khalifs  court,  at  Cordova,  and  the  ignorance  and 
immorality  prevailing  at  the  Vatican.  Here,  however, 
he  became  acquainted  with  Otho  the  Great,  whicli  had 
a  most  important  bearing  upon  his  future  career.  Otho 
had  become  the  conqueror  of  Italy,  and  had  assumed 
the  crown  of  Charlemagne  as  Emperar  of  the  West. 
The  union  of  Italy  and  Germany  under  one  northern 
power  had  a  great   influence  upon   European  progress, 


68  GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

and  henceforth  in  the  struggles  which  followed  against 
ecclesiastical  tyranny,  and  in  the  efforts  which  were 
made  for  intellectual  expansion,  there  flowed  two  con- 
temporary streams  of  influence,  answering  to  each 
other  and  mutually  helpful — one  in  the  south,  the 
other  in  the  north  ;  and  thus  they  flowed  on  for  several 
centuries,  until  the  Lutheran  Reformation  movement 
broke  forth,  when  the  northern  stream  deepened  and 
widened  its  channel,  whilst  the  southern  one  fell  back 
and  allowed  itself  to  be  swallowed  up  for  a  time  by 
overmastering  influences. 

Gerbert  after  his  visit  to  Rome  became  master  of 
the  cathedral  school  at  Rheims.  Here  he  taught  the 
sciences  with  which  he  became  familiar  at  Cordova  ; 
he  expatiated  on  the  Latin  classics,  Virgil,  Terence, 
Statius,  and  others  ;  he  introduced  into  France  the 
study  of  mathematics,  the  Arabic  numerals,  and  the 
decimal  notation.  He  gathered  a  library  of  rare  books 
and  manuscripts,  and  even  displayed  an  astonishing 
mechanical  genius  by  the  invention  of  a  clock,  of  a 
rudimentary  telescope,  and  an  organ  played  by  steam 
— this  being  the  first  effort  to  apply  this  marvellous 
power  which  by  modern  ingenuity  has  become  such  an 
important  factor  in  the  civilization  of  the  world.  He 
raised  the  seminary  of  Rheims  to  a  position  of  un- 
rivalled eminence,  and  greatly  aided  in  the  elevation  of 
other  schools.  He  became  secretary  to  Adalbero,  the 
Archbishop  of  Rheims,  and  in  this  capaciry  he  was 
soon  deeply  involved  in  the  political  dissensions  and 
intrigues  of  the  times.  In  mixing  up  with  any  political 
movement,  he  was  never  actuated  by  other  than  the 
noble  and  disinterested  object  of  restoring  the  Church 
to  the  moral  and  intellectual  standing  from  which  it 
had  fallen  ;   and    for  this  purpose  he  v/as  willing  that 


rOPE  GERBERT.  69 

any  Instrument  should  be  used,  whether  French,  Italian, 
or  German,  which  was  most  likely  to  achieve  the 
result.  He  was  appointed  the  Abbot  of  Bobbio,  but 
his  high  and  severe  morality  ill-suited  the  monks,  who 
were  accustomed  to  a  discipline  less  severe  ;  and  after 
many  quarrels  with  them  he  retired  from  his  post  and 
resumed  his  teaching  at  Rheims,  He  had  become 
acquainted,  through  the  political  tempests  then  pre- 
vailing, with  Hugh  Capet,  who  invited  him  to  become 
tutor  to  his  son,  and  who  soon  found  him  to  be  a 
useful  helper  in  his  designs  for  aggrandisement.  A 
speech  prepared  by  Gerbert  and  delivered  by  Arnulph, 
Archbishop  of  Orleans,  in  the  Council  of  Rheims,  in 
991,  has  been  preserved,  which  is  distinguished  by  a 
noble  independence  of  tone  in  protesting  against  the 
corruptions  of  the  Papacy,  and  shows  how  deeply  his 
indignation  was  moved  by  the  wickedness  of  the 
ecclesiastical  orders.  The  following  sentences  from 
this  speech  will  afford  an' idea  of  the  strength  of  invec- 
tive against  the  prevailing  vices  in  which  it  indulged  : — 
"  There  is  not  one  at  Rome,  it  is  notorious,  who  knows 
enough  of  letters  to  qualify  him  for  a  door-keeper  ; 
with  what  face  shall  he  presume  to  teach  who  has 
never  learned  .-'  "  He  gives  an  account  of  the  horrible 
crimes  of  which  the  Popes  had  been  guilty,  and  adds  : 
"  To  such  monsters,  full  of  all  infamy,  void  of  all 
knowledge,  human  and  divine,  are  all  the  priests  of 
God  to  submit — men  distinguished  throughout  the 
world  for  their  learning  and  holy  lives  .-'  The  pontiff" 
who  so  sins  against  his  brother — who  when  admonished 
refuses  to  hear  the  voice  of  counsel — is  as  a  publican 
and  a  sinner."  "  How  do  your  enemies  say  that,  in 
deposing  Arnulphus,  we  should  have  waited  for  the 
judgment  of  the   Roman   bishop .'      Can   they  say  that 


70  GREAT  SCUOOL'JUN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AuES. 

his  judgment  ;3  before  that  of  God  v/hich  our  Synod 
pronounced  ?  The  p-ince  of  the  Roman  bishops  and 
of  tl^c  a.postles  Ihcmscives  prcclaimcd  that  God  must 
be  obeyed  rather  tiian  men  ;  ?;nd  Paul,  the  teacher  of 
the  Gentile.?,  aniiounccd  anathema  to  liim,  though  he 
were  an  a;^L>:cl.  who  should  preach  a  doctrine  dilferent 
to  th'it  whirJi  had  been  dehvered.  Because  the  pontiff 
Marcellinus  offered  incense  to  Jupiter,  must  therefore 
ail  bishops  .sr.c.-ifice  ?  " 

Words  hl:e  these  indicated  a  spirit  which  was  br.i^'^e 
a;:.i  indepeii;-ent  in  tv.-^tifyin.cx  against  corruption,  and 
sh^iw  how  ?oon  a  spine  of  rebeUion  began  to  stir 
;i5!a:nst  the  !:yranny  of  the  Papacy.  In  the  unfolding 
of  events  Gcrbert  was  promoted  to  the  Archbishopric 
of  TvlieimSj  but  he  speedilv  found  that  with  his  coura- 
geous sr>!rit  and  Protestant  attitude  his  position  was 
a  dani^crous  one,  and  that  even  his  life  was  in  jeopardv. 
In  tills  extrevnity  he  received  a  letter  from  Othc  III., 
t.acn  in  his  I'iftccr'th  year,  inviting  him  to  the  German 
Court  He  accepted  the  request,  was  received  with 
signal  honour,  and  became  the  tutor  and  familiar  friend 
of  the  young  prince.  But  even  here  the  enmity  of  the 
Papal  court  pursued  him,  and  in  the  Council  of 
Mcusson,  in  which  the  refractory  conduct  of  the  pre- 
lates of  the  Council  of  Rheims  was  arraigned,  Gerbert 
defended  himself  with  great  boldness,  and  even  disputed 
the  right  of  the  Pope  to  exercise  the  extreme  authority 
of  interdicting  him  from  the  exercise  of  sacred  func- 
tions. He  was  appointed  by  Otho,  Archbishop  of 
Ravenna,  and  he  devoted  himself  assiduously  in  aiding 
t)u;  young  monarch  in  effecting  great  reforms  both  in 
the  Cliurch  and  the  Statj. 

In  the  midst  of  general  European  discord  and  appre- 
hension. Pope  Gregory  V.  died   in   999.    .  ^Vn   universal 


and  morbid  terror  took  possession  a.t  thi-  time  of 
Christendom.  Jt  was  the  thou'-;u;dth  >"ear,  and  ihcn, 
as  so  often  since,  entliusiasts  with  heated  irnat^inations 
announced  the  close  of  the  dispensation,  and  the  imme- 
diate advent  of  the  Lord  from  heaven.  The  prevailiti;-' 
disorders  and  conflicts  ragin;.;-  in  Eurojie,  t''":e  j^eneril 
unsettledness  of  the  public  mind,  were  interpreted  by 
ardent  students  o^  prophecy  to  be  an  exact  fulfilment 
of  the  signs  of  tiic  end  of  the  w^uld  as  foretold  by 
Jesus — wars  and  rumours  of  wars,  men's  hearts  failin;; 
then)  for  fear,  apostacies,  famines,  pes:ilcnccs,  troublous 
forebodings,  were  all  looked  on  as  ominous  and  certain 
harbingers  of  the  end.  Thus  in  many  places  tiicrc 
was  L;jneral  social  disorganisation  prevailing,  many 
gave  themselves  up  to  licentiousness,  many  left  off 
attending  to  the  ordinary  affairs  of  life,  many  lived  in 
profound  and  mel  mchol)'  apprehension,  and  many  left 
their  countries  to  be  in  tiie  neighbourhood  of  Jerusalem, 
where  it  was  expected  the  Son  of  Man  w^ould  set  up 
the  Great  White  Throne  for  judgincni;.  In  such  a  time 
was  Gerbert,  the  son  of  a  humble  French  peasant, 
raised  to  the  throne  of  the  Papacy  by  his  powerful 
patron  Otho.  iJe  had  been  the  most  damaging  foe  of 
the  immoralities  which  had  disgraced  the  Papacy  in  iiis 
generation,  and  he  suddenly  found  himself  placed  upon 
the  throne,  with  a  dangerous  and  difficult  responsibility 
upon  him.  He  took  the  name  nf  Silvester  II.,  and 
manfully  prepared  him.'^clf  to  grapple  with  the  enor- 
mous perplexities  of  his  position.  He  had  niariy 
qualifications  for  the  office  ;  he  was  a  passionate  lover 
of  learning ;  his  residence  amid  the  IVIohanunedan 
schools  had  aroused  in  him  the  desire  of  raising 
throughout  Cliristendom  a  noble  Christian  culture,  and 
he  loathed   the  corruption  which  disgraced  the  clerical 


72  GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

orders  of  the  Church.  But  he  was  not  destined  to  give 
full  effect  to  his  expansive  aims  ;  four  years  only  were 
allotted  him  to  occupy  the  throne,  and  in  that  short 
period  he  could  but  sow  the  seeds  of  a  harvest  which 
he  was  not  permitted  to  see  even  the  beginnings  of, 
but  which  bore  such  fruit  in  succeeding  generations 
as  to  change  the  course  of  the  civilized  world.  He 
laboured  to  diffuse  throughout  the  heart  of  his  great 
spiritual  empire  an  ardent  thirst  for  intellectual  attain- 
ments, to  give  new  impulses  to  an  awakening  spirit  of 
progress,  and  with  a  rare  prophetic  instinct  he  recog- 
nised that  Christendom  required  a  new  enthusiasm,  by 
which  its  long  dormant  energies  might  be  aroused  into 
full  exercise,  by  which  its  profound  emotions  might  be 
sympathetically  engaged  :  and  thus  he  was  led  to  give 
the  first  signal  of  a  crusade  against  the  Mohammedan 
power,  and  to  inspire  Europe  with  a  passionate  desire 
to  win  from  the  power  of  unbelievers  the  land  which 
had  been  consecrated  by  the  life  and  death  of  the  Lord 
Jesus.  It  was  a  suggestion  of  the  most  momentous 
character,  and  centuries  had  to  pass  before  its  full  fruit 
could  be  realized.  Gibbon  well  said,  "  A  nerve  was 
touched  of  exquisite  feeling,  and  it  vibrated  to  the  heart 
of  Europe." 

On  January  24th,  A.D.  1 00 1,  his  youthful  but  exalted 
patron,  Otho  III.,  died.  His  German  biographers  say 
that  he  was  the  victim  of  an  attack  of  small-pox,  but 
such  a  death  was  too  prosaic  and  commonplace  for 
Italian  romancists,  who  record  that  he  was  enticed  to 
adulterous  embraces  by  Stephania,  the  widow  of 
Crescentius,  the  Consul  of  Rome,  whom  Otho  had 
defeated  and  put  to  death,  and  that  she  by  means  of 
a  pair  of  gloves  administered  to  him  a  subtle  poison 
which  wrought  his  death.      In  the  year  1004  Gerbert 


POPE  GERPEJiT.  73 

followed  his  friend  the  emperor  to  the  grave,  and 
tradition  has  connected  the  same  fair  syren  with  his 
end,  by  stating  that  Stephania  skilfully  mixed  poison 
in  his  food,  which  slowly  corrupted  his  blood,  ruined 
his  health,  and  brought  him  to  death.  Then  arose 
wild  stories,  conjured  up  by  ecclesiastics  whose  excesses 
he  had  sought  to  restrain,  and  fostered  by  the  prevail- 
ing spirit  .of  superstition,  of  wizardry,  necromancy, 
diabolism,  and  hellish  compact,  of  which  the  great 
Pontiff  had  been  guilty.  The  fables,  oft  repeated  of 
divers  celebrities  in  the  Middle  Ages,  of  a  brazen  head 
which  he  consulted  on  important  subjects,  of  a  familiar 
spirit  kept  in  a  secret  apartment,  which  he  could  cause 
to  be  seen,  or  unseen,  by  the  wearing  of  a  ring,  of 
magical  arts  by  which  treasure  was  discovered  in  the 
earth,  and  other  similar  stories,  were  furbished  up  by 
weak  and  wicked  gossips,  and  circulated  with  bated 
breath  and  shuddering  gesture  by  the  peasants  of  Italy 
and  France.  The  monks  whispered  ominously  to  each 
other,  "  Homaqium  diabolo  fecit,  et  male  finivit." 

Gerbert  left  no  such  name  as  his  own  behind  him, 
and  for  a  generation  or  more  there  arose  no  one  as 
conspicuous  as  he  was,  nor  any  so  able  to  give  practical 
encouragement  to  European  learning.'  He  left  behind 
him  a  few  friends  and  pupils  who  did  not  allow  the 
cause  of  learning  utterly  to  languish,  and  in  various 
directions  slow  but  steady  progress  was  realized.  The 
schools  of  the  Saracens  in  Spain  shone  with  a  steady 
light,  and  gave  the  impulse  to  the  estabhshment  of 
Christian  schools  in  surrounding  nations,  not  always  in 
emulation  of  their  love  of  learning,  but  sometimes  to 
counteract  what  was  held  to  be  their  baleful  influence. 
Fulbert,  one  of  Gerbert's  pupils^  taught  the  school  of 
'  Note  A. 


74  GA-v.iT  SC//0OL/r//':X  OF  THE  MrVDLK  .^GES. 

CliarLres,    ar.cl    became   bishop    of  that   city    in     1007. 
He  was  devotedly   Joyed   by  bis   pupils,  who,  perhaps 
with    9    youthful    poitiality,   called   him    their  Socrates. 
He  was  celebrated  for  the  wide  ranc^c  of  his  knowledge, 
but    he    strove   to    mair'ain   in    all   his  teachings  the 
c.losc.st    adherence    to    the    teachin^^s    of   the    Church. 
r<"rom  the  tutorage  of  Fulbert  came  forth  Berengarius 
of  Tours,  in   whom  the  independence  of  mind  which 
distinc^uishcd    Gerbert    was     clearly    manifested.       He 
.sii^mslised  himi;eif  by    profe-s"ing  ccitain    rationalising: 
viev/s  on   the  si'bject  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  in  which 
he  Vv'as  opposed  by  .n  opponent  truly  formidable,  the 
learned,  devout,  and   philosophic   Lanfranc.  once  a  law 
student  at  Bologna,  then  monk  and  prior  in  the  famous 
monastery  of  Bee,  in  Normandy,  and  finally  Archbishop 
of    Canterbury.       Bcrengarius,    in    turn,    left    followers 
behind    him,  chief  of  whom  was   Ilildcbert,  Bishop  of 
Tours,  who  was  an   enthusiastic   admirer  of  his  teacher. 
He  was  so  learned  a  man,  and  so  earnest  a  defender  of 
Church  dogma,  that  he  won  from    Bernard  of  Clarvaux 
the    title   of    "  a  great   pillar   of  the  Church."      These 
names,  however,   were   soon  to  be  eclipsed   by  others, 
which  slione  with  such  lustre  as  to  concentrate  ■  .w  them- 
selves the  gaze  of  Christendom  for  ages. 

Now  arose  to  prominence  in  Euroj^e  a  race  of  men 
from  whom  learning  and  philosophy  ^vere  to  receive  at 
once  a  noble  impulse  and  a  congenial  home,  and  amongst 
whom  they  were  to  be  nursed  during  coming  ages,  until 
they  attained  a  gloiions  maturity. 

They  came  as  a  band  of  marauding  savages  from 
the  northern  seas  ;  they  were  wild  and  cruel,  but  they 
were  marvellously  impressible  ;  and  as  they  swept  over 
the  seas  to  the  south,  and  entrenched  themselves  in  the 
sunny   provii^ces   of  h^vonco,   native   tendencies  in    their 


FOPK  GhRBERi:  75 

tiatnre  tow:irds  rclinemc'it  dcvclGj>ed  l1-oTi5tlve.s,  r.;-,  I 
ied  111  em  to  absorb  the  f.:''t'"''nor  cpivit  dj  chivrJr_\-,  ol 
culture,  and  of  pool! y,  s)  Ih.dL  in  ies.s  lime  tnan  it  •'  llci! 
takes  a  race  to  settle  on  a  foreign  .soi!,  they  iiad  net- 
oniy  settled,  but  had  inibil>ecl  the  highest  spirit  of  uic 
limes,  and  tliey  emorc^ed  the  most  rei'ncd  and  high- 
souled  people  of  the  med'-'wa]  afre.  1  he  Nr.ri.ians 
became  in  lime  the  leaders  of  Europe  ;  the}-  noaded  \X\t 
Crusades,  thry  ma..ie  lv.u\dand  a  land  of  po«itry,  oi 
freedom,  and  of  religious  zeal,  and  with  a  catholicity  ol 
spirit  far  from  frc-quent  in  that  i^-^y,  they  gave  vCfch 
encouragement  t'j  learning  that  ardcrit  students  hasti^ned 
to  them  from  all  p;v.-ts  cf  Europe,  ano  followed  tWeiv 
belovtd  pursuits  beneath  the  !^'v..n:al  shfidcs  o!  their 
schools  ;md  monasteries. 


NOTK  A. 

"  .Sylv:-,ier  was  the  be^t  man  of  the  dark  ages  :  his  lif^j  indeed  wiij; 
the  Inm.Mtion  point  between  Uie  darkaess  and  the  driwn.  ilis  rrir.d 
was  i  nJ^'ed  with  the  love  of  Icirning',  his  heart  v/i  jniprev^^-d  with 
•he  idc.'l  of  a  cuhurpd  Chrislcni.!oi!i.  He  sou^dit  to  inspire  wilii 
this  l)ve  the  country  over  which  he  had  been  apf^oint'.'d  spiritiui) 
r,uar  li  I  1,  to  revive  the  thirst  ior  l:r)owled;;e  wliich  )iad  ^;one  to 
;.!  'p;),  to  resuscitate  the  hie  of  civilization  whicli  iiaa  long  been 
'ionn  i;:c.  He  soiicjht  ir. kindle  into  t^ame  the  heart  of  Christendom 
'>y  \:i-(  .  ■niini;  a  now  object  of  rL!i;4i'ms  enthusiasm.  It  was  by  hirti 
ihii  the  ai^L  martial  tnmipet  w  is  sounded,  th':  hrst  call  to  identify 
tlic  spirit  <m' (Jhii'-iianity  v.ith  tic  spirit  of  waniivc  heroism.  He 
proposed  '.  cru-^  il'  a;;  linst  the  Mohammedans.  He  felt  that  what 
lii>  people  w.i.:>.d  most  of  all  was  an  object  m  life,  i  j^oal  of  aspira 
tiu'i,  a  |v>  nt  to  ^t^ive  after.  He  perceived  that  tlioso  d.iyr,  were 
d  rk  diicdy  because  they  were  letliar^ic,  because  tiicy  brought  no 
aim,  bi;.  .luse  they  came  and  went  without  a  purpose  and  without  a 
p.'.in.  J-fere  was  a  purpose,  hcr*^  was  a  plan,  \\\\i'  h  would  dispel 
l'  e   iiiiiiljs.Moss  a; id  avvakea  from  the   lethari^y.     J.et  ih'.    Cliinvh 


76  GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

put  on  its  armour,  let  the  spirit  of  Christianity  go  forth  to  battle 
for  the  truth,  to  win  back  the  land  of  its  birth,  to  expel  the  intruders 
from  its  native  soil.  Such  was  the  voice  of  Sylvester,  and  in  the 
circumstances  of  the  time  it  was  a  -wise  voice.  But  Sylvester  was 
before  his  xXvae."—  Maihesonf  "  Growth  of  Spirit  of  Chris.,"  ii.  48. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  FOUNDER  OF  MEDIEVAL  THEOLOGY. 
ANSELM. 


•'  WoRkfoAN  of  God  !  ch,  lose  not  hearl. 
But  learn  what  God  is  like  ; 
And  in  the  darkest  battle-field 
Thou  shall  know  where  to  strike. 

•'Thrice  blest  is  he  to  whom  is  given 
T!:e  instinct  that  can  tell 
Ihit  God  is  on  the  f.eld  when  He 
Is  most  invisible. 

*'  Blest  too  is  he  wiio  can  divine 
Where  rial  riglii  rloth  Ue, 
And  dare:-,  to  take  the  side  that  seems 
WroMj';  to  maa's  blindfold  eye. 


"  For  rif^ht  is  rit;lU,  since  God  is  God  ; 
And  rij>ht  the  day  must  win  ; 
To  doubt  wouki  bs  disloyalty, 
To  falter  v^ould  be  sin." 


Fabkr. 


V. 

AXSELM. 

Anskem  v.-as  ot"  noble  parcntac^c.  His  father's  name  wai 
Gundulphus,  his  mother's  Ermetbcrj^a,  and  they  lived 
in  wealth  and  innucnoe  in  the  city  of  Augusta,  in  Lom- 
bardy.  hiis  f;»tiicr  was  profu^e  in  hi?  hospital) ly,  and 
given  to  the  good  things  of  life  ;  hi>  mother,  as  the 
mothers  v)f  the  greatest  men  have  .vo  often  been,  wa^?  a 
woman  of  skilful  manas^cment,  of  stainless  purity,  of 
excellent  reputation,  and  (;f  devout  spirit.  She  was  the 
good  angel  of  her  son  whilst  she  lived,  and  after  death 
her  g-entle  influence  rested  upon  him  as  a  blessed  re- 
straint from  evil.  But  at  the  age  of  fourteen  this  best 
earthly  friend  was  removed  from  h.im.  For  some  time 
he  followed  her  instructions,  he  meditated  upon  religious 
themes,  and  living  amongst  the  hills  his  youthful  fancy 
conceived  that  the  home  of  God  was  on  the  top  of  a 
high  mountain.  At  the  age  of  fifteen  he  sought  to 
enter  a  convent,  but,  strange  to  say,  for  some  reason  nut 
recorded,  the  abbot  refused  him  adinission.  liis  health 
failed  him,  and  during  his  sickness  he  longed  with 
greater  desire  than  before  after  a  religious  life.  But  as 
he  regained  his  strength  his  good  desires  and  serious 
impressions  (led,  he  fell  into  temptation,  gave  way  to 
some  vices,  and  even  became  indiiTercnt  to  the  accuniu- 


8o  GREA  T  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

lation  of  knowledge.  He  was  not  blessfed  with  favour- 
able influences  at  home  ;  his  father  pursued  a  course  of 
undue  severity  towards  him,  and  the  result  was  he  fled 
from  the  parental  roof  and  his  native  land.  He  travelled 
through  various  countries,  and  was  sometimes  reduced 
to  the  hardest  straits,  as  on  one  occasion  he  was  forced 
to  pacify  the  cravings  of  hunger  by  eating  snow/  He 
passed  through  Gaul,  spent  three  years  in  wandering 
about  Burgundy  and  France,  and  finally  came  to 
Normandy. 

This  province  was  then  resounding  with  the  praises 
of  the  monk  Lanfranc,  and  Anselm  was  drawn  by  his 
renown  to  the  monastery  of  Bee.  He  became  a  student 
under  him,  and  by  the  inspiring  teaching  he  received 
his  passion  for  learning  was  not  only  revived  but  greatly 
stimulated.  Shortly  after  his  settlement  here  his  father 
died,  and  Anselm  sought  counsel  of  Lanfranc  as  to 
which  of  three  courses  he  would  do  best  to  follow  : 
whether  to  accept  his  inheritance  and  distribute  it  for 
the  benefit  of  the  poor,  to  enter  a  monastery  and  pursue 
a  religious  life,  or  to  live  as  a  hermit  of  the  woods. 
Lanfranc  declined  the  responsibility  of  advising  him, 
but  his  early  passion  decided  his  lot,  and  at  the  age  of 
twenty-seven  he  became  a  monk  in  the  monastery  of 
Bee,  of  which  Herluin  was  abbot,  and  Lanfranc  the 
prior  and  teacher.  The  latter  was  shortly  afterwards, 
in  1063,  removed  to  Caen,  and  in  1078  Herluin  died. 
Anselm  succeeded  first  to  the  office  of  Lanfranc,  and 
then  to  the  post  of  abbot.  His  unostentatious  piety, 
and  his  thorough  familiarity  with  all  subjects  in  phi- 
losophy, theology,  and  grammar,  caused  his  fame  to  be 
diffused  far  and  wide.  Students  came  flocking  to  him 
from  every  quarter,  and  Bee  became  the  most  noted 
'  Lupton,  "  Glory  of  their  Times,"  464. 


ANSELM.  8i 

centre  of  learning  in  Europe,  Although  he  sought  to 
diminish  by  skilful  distribution  amongst  the  monks  the 
secular  work  of  his  office,  the  duty  of  management  was 
so  uncongenial,  the  publicity  of  his  position  was  so 
distasteful,  and  both  interfered  so  much  with  his  oppor- 
tunity for  pious  contemplation,  that  it  was  with  much 
difficulty  he  was  restrained  from  resigning  his  office,  and 
becoming  a  simple  monk  again.  This  was  prevented, 
according  to  a  fable  of  the  day,  by  his  intention  being 
revealed  in  a  dream  to  Mauritius,  the  Archbishop  of 
Rouen,  who  exercised  peremptory  authority  by  insisting 
on  his  retaining  his  office. 

During  the  years  of  splendid  service  which  Anselm 
rendered  as  abbot  of  Bee,  he  found  time  to  compose 
several  works,  which  were  issued  under  the  titles,  "  On 
Truth,"  •'  On  the  Freedom  of  the  Will,"  "  The  Gram- 
marian," "  The  Monologion,"  and  "  The  Proslogion." 
Meantime  Lanfranc,  who  had  won  for  himself  everlasting 
renown  as  the  Primate  of  England,  died,  and  William 
Rufus  seized  the  revenues  and  possessions  of  the  See, 
and  declined  to  make  any  appointment  thereto  for 
upwards  of  four  years.  This  worthless  monarch  being 
reduced  by  severe  sickness  to  the  verge  of  death,  as  he 
slowly  recovered,  having  been  led  to  serious  thought  by 
his  affliction,  nominated  Anselm,  who  was  then  in 
England  on  a  visit  to  the  Count  of  Chester,  to  the 
Archbishopric.  Anselm  earnestly  sought  to  withstand 
the  appointment,  but  it  is  said  he  was  carried  by  force 
into  the  chamber  of  the  King  at  Gloucester,  the  crosier 
was  placed  in  his  hand  then  he  was  hurried  to  a 
neighbouring  church,  crowds  of  people  hailed  him  as 
Archbishop,  and  the  clergy  welcomed  him  as  their 
Primate  with  enthusiastic  acclamation.  He  reluctantly 
suffered    himself  to  be  consecrated   on  December   4th, 

6 


S2  GREA  T  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  -A  CES. 

1093,  the   Archbishop  of  York  officiating  at  the  cere- 
mony.    He  occupied  this  prominent  and  responsible  post 
for  eighteen  years, — years  of  storm  and  conflict, — during 
which  he  boldly  maintained  the  authority  of  the  Pope 
as  supreme  ruler  in  all  things  spiritual,  in  opposition  Lo 
the  will  of  the  King  and  of  the  temporal  power.     In  tiie 
course  of  the  struggle  he  was  driven  out  of  the  kingdom, 
his  possessions  alienated,  his  followers  dispersed,  and  he 
proceeded  to  Rome,  where  Pope  Urban  ll.  received  him 
with  great  distinction.     The  Pope  requested  him  whilst 
there   to   defend     the    doctrine  of    the    Latin    Church 
against  the  Greek  Church   on  the  subject  of  the  Pro- 
cession of  the  Holy  Ghost,  which  he  did  with  signal 
ability.     Urban   sustained  such  a  relation  to  the  King 
of  England  at  this  time  that  he  could  not  afford  to  put 
him  to   defiance,  and  the  quarrel  of  Anselm   could  not 
therefore  be  adjusted.      Hence  he  retired  to  the   little 
village   of  Schlavia,  where  he  wrote   his   treatise  "  Cur 
Detis  homo"  which  contained  his  celebrated   theory  of 
the  atonement.     Then   he  retired   to   Lyons,  where  he 
remained  until  the  death  of  William  Rufus  occurred  by 
the   arrow  of  Sir  Walter   Tyrrell  in  the  New   Forest. 
Then  he  was  recalled  to  England   by  Henry,  who  suc- 
ceeded to  the   throne.      But  the  new  King  demanded 
that  he  shoub    permit  himself  to  be  re-invested  in  his 
office,  thus  palpably  making  the  spiritual  appointment 
subordinate  to  the  royal  will,  than   which  nothing  can 
be  conceived  more   directly  opposed  to  the  theory  of 
the  Papacy,  nor  indeed  to  the  spirit  of  the  Bible.     For 
whilst  a  spiritual  despotism  is  of  all  things  most  hateful, 
and   nothing    operates    more     injuriously  to   the   best 
interests  of  a  nation  than  a  rampant  priestism,  it  is  also 
of  great   importance   that  spiritual    offices   and   sacred 
functions  should  not  lie  at  the  mercy  of  the  temporal 


ANSELM.  83 

power,  and  that  the  Church  should  not  be  subordinated 
to  the  world.  A  long  and  bitter  controversy  took 
place  between  Ansclm  and  the  king  upon  this  subject, 
the  result  of  which  was  that  in  i  !  07  the  king  withdrew 
his  pretensions.  Anselm  resumed  his  functions,  Vv'hich 
he  discharged  with  great  honour  to  himself  and  advan- 
tage to  the  Church  for  two  years.  Then  he  died,  amidst 
universal  lamentation.  He  was  canonised  in  1494, 
and  if  loftiness  of  motive,  transcendent  abilities,  and 
burning  piety  ever  justified  such  a  distinction,  they  did 
in  him.  He  was  a  man  of  enormous  learning,  and  he 
exercised  a  mighty  influence  on  European  thought. 
He  was  the  Augustine  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and  may 
fitly  be  considered  the  first  Scholastic  philosoplier,  and 
a  theologian  of  the  highest  class.  Erigena,  although  a 
man  of  great  boldness  of  thought,  and  far  ahead  of  his 
age  in  learning  and  philosophical  acumen,  was  rather  a 
forerunner  and  herald  of  the  School  than  belongins"  to 
it,  and  was  much  inferior  to  Anselm  in  constructive 
theology  and  in  consistency  of  general  thought. 

The  doctrines  of  Anselm  in  religion  and  philosophy 
require  now  brief  consideration.  About  1070  Anselm 
published  the  Monologion,  in  which  the  great  principles 
of  his  system  are  laid  down.  The  title  of  the  book  ex- 
plains its  purpose,  "  Monologue  of  the  method  in  which 
one  may  account  for  his  faith  ;"  and  it  represents  an 
ignorant  man  seeking  truth  by  the  light  of  his  reason 
alone.  This  was  a  bold  position  for  any  one  to  assume 
in  the  eleventh  century,  and  especially  one  who  was  so 
devoted  to  the  Church  as  Anselm.  He  built  his  system 
on  the  basis  of  pure  Realism,  and  argued  that  Universals 
exist  independently  of  Individuals,  that  the  latter  exist- 
simply  as  a  result  of  the  former  ;  and  from  this  starting- 
point  he  framed  an  argument  for  the  existence  of  God 


84  GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

after  this  manner.  We  seek  many  goods,  some  for 
their  utiHty,  some  for  their  beauty.  These  have  various 
degrees  of  excellence,  and  hence  possess  a  relative 
value,  z>.,  afe  related  to  some  standard  by  which  their 
worth  is  measured.  Relative  goods  thus  by  necessity 
argue  an  Absolute  Good,  which  is  God.  Thus  also,  in 
regard  to  all  that  is  great  or  high,  these  can  only  be 
relatively  so  ;  and  thus  he  argues  something  Absolutely 
Great  and  High,  to  which  these  stand  related.  But  as 
there  cannot  by  possibility  be  an  infinitely  ascending 
scale,  there  must  be  One  highest  and  greatest  of  all, 
which  is  God.  That  there  can  only  be  One  such  high 
and  supreme  Being  he  shows  by  the  consideration  that 
if  there  were  more  than  one  they  would  either  all  join 
in  one  Supreme  Essence,  or  be  that  Essence  itself.  If  the 
former  were  the  case,  then  the  Essence  which  included 
these  would  be  the  Crown  of  Existence  ;  or  if  the  latter, 
then  the  many  would  be  absorbed  in  the  One.  Thus  he 
reaches  a  God,  the  Absolute,  who  is  self-existent  and 
independent.  From  these  principles  as  a  starting-point 
Anselm  draws  in  seventy-nine  chapters  the  attributes 
of  God,  the  Trinity,  creation,  relation  of  man  as  intelli- 
gence to  God,  and  the  whole  course  of  theology. 

The  phenomena  of  Nature,  he  says,  is  not  derived 
and  does  not  emanate,  from  the  Absolute  as  rays  from 
the  sun,  but  is  created  by  it,  and  exists  only  by  the 
providential  presence  of  the  Creator.  So  also  it  is  with 
the  ideas  of  justice,  goodness,  and  wisdom  which  the 
human  mind  contains;  they  are  only  relative;  they 
stand  in  necessary  relation  to  the  all-perfect  and  absolute 
justice,  goodness,  and  wisdom ;  and  these  all  necessarily 
involve  the  attributes  of  eternity  and  omnipresence. 
God  is  thus  the  eternal  Archetype,  and  all  creation  is 
but  the  copy  of  His  fulness. 


ANSELM.  85 

Ansclm  pursued  this  argument  still  further  in  the 
"  Proslogion,"  or  "  The  Faith  which  Seeks  to  Demon- 
strate itself."  In  the  former  work  he  supposes  himself 
to  be  seeking  the  truth,  but  in  this  he  assumes  he  is  in 
possession  of  it,  and  tries  to  demonstrate  it.  Me  states 
that  the  idea  of  a  God  existing  in  the  mind  of  man  is 
the  best  proof  that  there  is  a  God.  "  The  fool  may  say 
in  his  heart,  'There  is  no  God  ;'  but  he  thereby  shows 
himself  a  fool,  because  he  asserts  something  which  is 
contradictory  in  itself  He  has  the  idea  of  God  in  him, 
but  denies  its  reality.'"  He  further  said,  God  is  the 
Being  than  whom  none  greater  could  be  conceived  ; 
but  if  that,  than  which  nothing  greater  can  be  conceived, 
exists  only  in  the  intellect,  it  would  be  the  greatest,  for 
we  could  add  to  it  real  existence.  Thus  the  greatest 
conceivable  Being — viz.,  God — must  have  real  existence. 
It  is  somewhat  remarkable  that  Descartes,  who  most 
likely  knew  nothing  of  Anselm,  in  his  "  Meditations  "^ 
has  produced  the  same  argument,  and  seeks  to  establish 
the  existence  of  a  perfect  Being — z".^.,  God — from  the 
mere  fact  of  the  idea  of  a  perfect  Being.  Leibnitz 
adopts  the  same  line  of  thought,  but  refers  it  to  Anselm ; 
and  thus  by  these  three  great  philosophers  has  this 
argument  been  largely  diffused  through  modern  think- 
ing.3 

Gaunilo,"*  a  monk  in  the  monastery  of  Marmontier, 
wrote  in  opposition  to  the  views  of  Anselm,  in  the 
spirit  of  empiricism,  saying,  "  The  idea  of  a  thing  does 
not  necessarily  imply  its  reality;  there  are  many  false 

>  Hagenbach,  "  Hist,  of  Doct.,"  i.,  473- 
«  Mahaffy,  "  Descartes,"  90. 

*  Note  A. 

♦  Neander,  "Church    Hist.,"  viii.,  220;    Hagenbach.  "Hist,  of 
Doct.,"  i.,  474- 


S6  GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

ideas.  Yea,  it  is  very  questionable  whether  we  can  at 
all  form  an  idea  of  God,  since  He  is  above  all  idea.'" 
Anselm  replied  to  Gaunilo  with  great  spirit  and  ability. 
His  ontological  argument  has  always  commanded  pro- 
found respect  both  from  friends  and  foes;  it  was  freely 
criticised  by  Aquinas  and  Kant,  but  hy  many  writ<?rs 
it  has  "been  variously  developed  and  applied.  The 
following  is  the  testimony  of  Hegel  to  its  value  : — 

"Anselm  was  right  in  declaring  that  only  to  be  perfect 
which  exists  not  only  subjectively  but  also  obj actively."  In 
vain  we  affect  to  despise  this  proof,  commonly  called  the 
ontological,  and  this  definition  of  the  perfect  set  forth  by 
Anselm ;  it  is  inherent  in  the  mind  of  every  unprejudiced  rnan, 
and  reappears  in  every  system  of  philosophy,  though  against 
the  knowledge,  and  even  the  will,  of  philosophers,  as  well  as 
in  the  principle  of  direct  faith.'"^ 

Having  treated  largely  on  the  existence  and  nature 
of  God,  Anselm  proceeded  to  deal  with  the  subject  of 
the  Trinity.  He  tried  to  show  that  the  Son  must  be 
regarded  as  th.e  Wisdom  of  God,  and  the  Holy  Spirit 
as  the  Love  of  God ;  thus  departing  from  the  teaching 
of  the  more  orthodox  of  the  ancient  Greek  fathers  on 
this  question,  and  approaching  the  views  of  Augustine, 
who  rejected  the  distinctions  made  by  the  Gregories, 
Basil,  and  others,  between  the  Persons  of  the  Godhead, 
and  taught  that  the  distinctions  in  the  Godhead  were 
not  distinctions  of  nature,  but  only  of  relation.  The 
views  of  both  Augustine  and  Anselm  on  this  important 
doctrine  approached  Monarchianism. 

In  his  book,  "  Car  Deus,  Homo"  Anselm  propounded 
the  doctrine  of  the  Atonement  which  has  been  identified 
with  his  name,  and  which  has  so  largely  moulded  the 
doctrine  of  the  Christian  Church  on  this  subject  ever 

'  Note  B.  *  Note  C. 


ANSELM.  87 

Since,  Before  his  day  the  doctrine,  held  by  many 
even  of  the  great  Church  fathers,  as  Origen,  Ambrose, 
Leo,  and  others,  was  that  Christ,  by  His  incarnation  and 
death,  paid  a  ransom  to  the  devil  for  the  deliverance  of 
man,  and  even  Augustine  had  a  similar  argument/ 
But  Anselm  .took  a  huge  step  in  advance  in  the  view 
he  expounded.  He  abolished  the  devil  from  the  line 
of  argument  altogether,  and  did  not  allow  that  he  had 
rights  to  be  considered  or  claims  to  be  met.  H«  urged 
that  satisfaction  for  sin  was  imperative  to  be  offered  to. 
God's  honour,  which  had  been  invaded,  and  to  His 
justice,  which  had  been  impugned.  This  satisfaction 
could  only  be  rendered  by  a  person  of  infinite  merit 
and  virtue,  and  who  by  offering  a  voluntary  atonement 
could  thus  make  amends  for  sin  against  an  infinite 
Being.  This  theory  he  wrought  out,  with  great  ingenuity, 
into  wonderful  completeness;  but  he  failed  on  one  side 
of  the  theory- — he  presented  the  Atonement  in  a  purely 
objective  light,  as  being  wrought  out  entirely  outside  of 
man,  and  apart  from  the  moral  change  required  in  him, 
and  which  the  Apostle  Paul  emphasises  so  strongly. 
Thus  whilst  his  theory  was  an  advance  on  the  view 
entertained  in  the  Christian  consciousness  of  preceding 
ages,  it  left  much  to  be  done  in  the  growth  of  a  moral 
theory  of  the  Atonement  which  should  occupy  the 
earnest  attention  of  the  Church  in  the  future.* 

Anselm  did  not  command  immediate  rccognitiort  from 
the  learned  as  a  teacher  of  great  grasp  and  power.  This 
is  to  be  partly  accounted  for  by  the  form  in  which  his 
writings  appeared,  not  as  formal  or  systematic  treatises, 
but  as  tracts,  dialogues,  and  fragments.  But  if  they 
lost  somewhat  in  immediate  impression,  they  were 
characterised  by  greater  freshness  and  interest  for  a 
'  "  De  Lib.  Arbitr.,"  iii;,  10.  *  Note  D. 


S8  GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

larger  circle  of  readers,  and  they  had  so  much  of  real 
force  in  them  as  to  gradually  grow  into  universal  and 
lasting  fame.  If,  however,  Anselm  did  not  adopt  a 
Scholastic  form  in  writing,  he  was  called  upon  to  engage 
in  a  controversy  which  showed  him  to  be  a  dialectical 
athlete  of  the  first  order.  The  Realism  which  had  been 
expressed  by  Augustine,  which  had  been  imbibed  from 
the  so-called  writings  of  Dionysius  by  Erigena,  and 
afterwards  with  greater  precision  and  fulness  by  Anselm, 
— viz.,  that  general  conceptions  {universalid)  were 
regarded  as  the  archetypes  in  the  Divine  reason  {imi- 
versalia  ante  rem),  and  as  copied  or  reflected  in  the 
various  phenomena  around,  the  species,  lying  at  the  basis 
of  individual  beings  {universalia  in  re)^ — had  become 
interwoven  with  the  general  thinking  of  the  times;  but 
a  divergence  occurred  in  the  teaching  of  Roscellin,  a 
native  of  Armorica,  educated  at  Soissons  and  Rheims, 
and  Canon  of  Compiegne,  about  1089,  who  boldly 
attacked  the  accepted  theory,  and  taught  that  all 
knowledge  must  proceed  from  experience;  that  indi- 
viduals only  had  real  existence;  that  general  conceptions 
were  without  objective  reality,  but  were  only  abstractions 
formed  by  the  understanding  to  aid  it  in  grasping  the 
infinite  variety  of  things  {nomina  noji  res,  universalia  post 
res).  Thus  the  word  Nominalism  came  to  be  used  to 
characterise  this  teaching.""  The  tendency  of  the  views 
of  Roscellin  was  undoubtedly  towards  scepticism.  In 
dealing  with  the  subject  of  "  whole  and  part,"  he  says 
"the  parts  must  be  prior  to  the  whole;"  "the  whole 
presupposes  the  parts,  and  yet  the  parts  really  subsist 
only  in  reference  to  a  whole."  Roscellin  boldly  argued 
on  these  grounds  that  if,  according  to  the  accepted 
language  of  the  Church,  the  essence  of  the  Godhead 
*  Neander,  "  Hist,  of  Church,"  viii.,  87.  *  Note  E. 


ANSELM.  89 

might   be    spoken    of   as   One   Reality    {una   res),  the 
personal  distinctiveness  of  the  three  Divine  hypostases 
would   be    conslructivcly    denied.      This   would    be    to 
injure  the   Christian   faith  ;  it    was   to  affirm  that  the 
three    Persons  of  the  Godhead  were  not  distinct  sub- 
sistences  {jion  tres  res),  but  names,  and  nothing  more, 
without  having  any  real  counterparts.     To  avoid   the 
rock  of  Sabellianism,  he  therefore  urged  that  the  Divine 
hypostases  should  be  viewed  as  three  real  Beings  (trcs 
res),  equal  in  majesty,  will,  and  glory.     To  these  views 
there  arose  immediate .  and    strenuous   opposition.      A 
council  was  held  at  Soissons  in  1092,  which  condemned 
Rosccllin  as  teaching  heresy,  and    denounced   him  as 
holding   the  doctrine  of  Tritheism.     Anselm   took  up 
the  matter,  and  issued  a  book  against  Rosccllin,  entitled 
"  Liber   de    Fide    Trinitatis    et   de   Incarnatione    Verbi 
contra  blaspheniias  Rtiseliju."      Rosccllin  seems  to  have 
been  quite  unconscious  that  his  teaching  was  discordant 
with  the  views  of  Lanfranc,  who  was  the  most  prominent 
leader  of  opinion  at  that  time,  in  consequence  of  his 
fame  as  the  opponent  of  the  heretic  Berengarius;  and 
both  he  and  Anselm  seem  to  have  been  ignorant  of  any 
radical  difference  between  them,  until  one  of  the  auditors 
of  Rosccllin  addressed   a  letter  to  Anselm,  submitting 
the  views  of  the  canon  to  him,  and   asking  his  opinion 
thereon.     Thus    called    upon,  Anselm    came    into   the 
field.      In  his  book  he  taxed   Rosccllin  with  teaching 
that  the  so-called  universal  substances  are  only  emis- 
sions of  sound  by  the  voice  [Jlatiini  vocis) ;  and  said  his 
reason    was   so  enslaved   by  his    imagination,   that   he 
could  not  view  those  things  which  require  to  be  looked 
at  by  the  former  alone  without  the  aid  of  the  latter. 
He  clearly  stated  the  points  at  issue  between   Realism 
and    Nominalism.      The  former  regarding   the  totality 


90  GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

of  similar  individuals  as  constituting  a  real  unity,  the 
totality  of  men  as  a  generic  unity  {iinus  homo  in  specie) ; 
the  latter  holding  that  such  unity  existed  only  in  name, 
and  that  the  individual  is  the  only  unity.  In  advancing 
from  this  general  ground  to  its  application  by  Roscellin 
to  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  he  showed  that  in 
holding  the  view  of  three  Persons  in  the  Godhead  which 
were  not  one  in  essence  he  was  undoubtedly  teaching 
Tritheism,  and  strongly  affirmed  the  generic  unity 
{uniis  Deus)  of  the  three  Divine  Persons.  Anselm 
further  taxed  Roscellin  with  impugnijng  the  doctrine  of 
the  Incarnation,  pointing  out  that  Christ  could  not  have 
assumed  human  nature  in  all  its  completeness  if  it  had 
not  been  something  real  and  objective,  something 
different  from  the  nature  of  the  individual  man. 

This  controversy  with  Roscellin  roused  into  extreme 
prominence  the  great  dispute  which  raged  for  succeed- 
ing centuries,  which  had  its  root  in  the  history  of  the 
Church  as  far  back  as  the  time  of  Porphyry,  but  which 
emphatically  challenged  general  attention.  The  words 
Realism  and  Nominalism  very  inadequately  describe 
the  essential  principles  which  lay  at  the  foundation 
of  this  prolonged  controversy.  Although  so  many 
have  described  it  as  a  mere  dust  of  words,  there  were 
concerned  in  it  all  the  solemn  realities  of  religion  and 
of  philosophy,  and  when  pursued  to  its  deepest  issues 
the  faith  and  happiness  of  man  were  involved  also. 
The  question  became  this :  Is  the  Universal,  that 
Oneness  which  we  must  ascribe  to  humanity,  a  mere 
conception  of  the  imagination  .'*  Has  it  no  reality } 
Is  it  a  thing  or  a  name  ?  As  one  powerful  thinker 
puts  it,  "  In  divinity  you  must  speak  of  a  Name,  as 
that  with  which  we  are  sealed  ;  that  with  "which  we  are 
hallowed,  and  which  is  to   make  all   else  holy.     This 


ANSELM.  91 

is  the  language  of  the  Baptismal  formula,  and  of 
the  Lord's  Prayer.  On  the  other  hand,  *  thing ' 
from  'think,'  as  *  res^  from  *reor'  (the  subject  of 
thought),  is  opposed  in  all  the  highest  morality  to 
the  person,  the  thinker,  the  speaker,  the  actor.  Yet 
the  necessity  of  the  argument  drove  him  who  was 
vindicating  the  Divine  Essence  as  the  foundation  of 
all  things  to  treat  it  as  if  it  possessed  the  nature 
of  those  things."'  Thus  a  problem  of  the  greatest 
difficulty  of  solution  was  essentially  involved  in  the 
discussion,  of  such  difficulty,  indeed,  that  it  is  still 
as  ardently  debated  as  ever.  The  men  who  devoted 
themselves  to  the  contest,  with  few  advantages  and 
under  enormous  drawbacks,  are  worthy  of  some  tender 
treatment  and  kind  appreciation  ;  with  dust,  and  din, 
and  anguish  they  fought  on  in  the  battle,  and  if  victory 
did  not  dec^  :ively  declare  itself  on  one  side  or  the 
other,  many  gains  ^o  the  cause  of  truth  and  many 
benefits  to  the  human  race  were  the  outcome  of  the 
struggle. 

The  character  of  Anslem  was  irreproachably  pure 
and  lofty.  He  was  amiable,  retiring,  sympathetic  ;  he 
was  somewhat  disposed  to  asceticism,  and  certainly 
set  an  example  of  abstinence  to  his  monks  ;  he  was  a 
devoted  student,  a  rigorous  logician,  and  a  profound 
thinker  ;  with  his  exalted  philosophical  genius  he  united 
a  passionate  love  of  the  Church,  and  whilst  often  en- 
gaged in  controversy,  he  was  devotedly  unselfish  and 
self-sacrificing.  He  was  a  man  fit  to  rank  amongst 
the  leaders  of  the  world,  and  to  him  belongs  the 
honour  of  having  attempted  the  reconciliation  of 
divinity  and  philosophy,  and  of  having  vindicated  the 
place  of  reason  in  pronouncing  on  matters'  of  faith. 
•  Maurice,  *'  Mor.  and  Met.  Phil.,"  i.,  55+. 


92  GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

The  times  were  not  sufficiently  ripe  for  a  settlement  of 
such  important  matters. 

Note  A. 
"  It  may  appear  at  first  singular,  that  the  thought  which  sug- 
gested itself  to  the  mind  of  a  monk  at  Bee  should  still  be  the 
problem  of  metaphysical  theology ;  and  theology  must  when 
followed  out  become  metaphysical ;  metaphysics  must  become 
theological.  This  same  thought  seems,  with  no  knowledge  of  its 
mediaeval  origin,  to  have  forced  itself  on  Descartes,  was  re-asserted 
by  Leibnitz  ;  if  not  rejected,  was  thought  insufficient  by  Kant, 
revived  in  another  form  by  ScheUing  and  by  Hegel,  latterly  has 
been  discussed  with  singular  fulness  and  ingenuity  by  M.  de 
R^musat.  Yet  will  it  less  surprise  the  profoundly  reflective,  who 
cannot  but  perceive  how  soon  and  how  inevitably  the  mind  arrives 
at  the  verge  of  human  thought ;  how  it  cannot  but  encounter  this 
same  question  which  in  another  form  divided  in  either  avowed 
or  unconscious  antagonism  Plato  and  Aristotle,  Anselm  and  his 
opponents  (for  opponents  he  had,  of  no  common  subtlety),  Leibnitz 
and  Locke  ;  which  Kant  failed  to  reconcile  ;  which  his  followers 
have  perhaps  bewildered  by  a  new  and  intricate  phraseology  more 
than  elucidated  ;  which  modern  eclecticism  harmonises  rather  in 
seeming  than  in  reality  ;  the  question  of  questions  ;  one  primary 
elemental,  it  may  be  innate  or  instinctive,  or  acquired,  and  tradi- 
tional idea,  conception,  notion,  coaviction  of  God,  of  the  Imma- 
terial, the  Eternal,  the  Infinite." 

Milman,  "  Lat.  Chris.,"  iv,,  340,  i. 

Note  B, 
Gaunilo  used  a  well-known  illustration  in  replying  to  Anselm's 
argument.  "  If  one  in  speaking  of  an  island  which  he  asserted  to 
be  more  perfect  and  lovely  than  all  known  islands,  would  infer  its 
existence  from  this,  that  it  could  not  be  more  perfect,  if  it  did  not 
exist,  we  should  hardly  know  whether  to  think  him  the  greatest 
fool  who  conducted  such  an  argument,  or  him  who  gave  his  assent 
to  it.  The  opposite  method  is  to  be  adopted  ;  we  must  first  prove 
the  existence  of  the  island,  and  then  show  that  its  excellence  sur- 
passes that  of  all  others,"  etc.  .  Anselm,  in  replying  to  Gaunilo, 
rejects  the  illustration  as  altogether  inappropriate.  He  5ays  that 
if  Gaunilo  could  really  imagine  an  island  more  perfect  than  could 


AAFSELM.  93 

ever  be  conceived,  he  would  make  him  a  present  of  it.  "In  the 
opinion  of  Anselm  the  idea  of  the  most  perfect  being  was  a  neces- 
sary idea,  between  which  and  the  arbitrary  and  imn;.Tinary  notion 
of  a  most  excellent  island  no  parallel  could  be  drawn"  (Mohler). — 
Hagenbach,  "  Hist,  of  Doct,"  i.,  474- 

Note  C. 
"  Eadmer  draws  a  remarkable  picture,  which  is  confirmed  by 
Anselm's  own  account,  of  the  way  in  which  he  was  tormented  with 
the  longing  to  discover  some  one  argument— short,  simple,  self- 
sufficing — by  which  to  demonstrate  in  a  clear  and  certain  manner 
the  existence  and  perfections  of  God.  Often  on  the  point  of  grasping 
what  he  sought,  and  as  often  baffled  by  what  escaped  from  his  hold, 
unable  in  his  anxiety  to  sleep  or  to  take  his  meals,  he  despaired  of 
his  purpose  ;  but  the  passionate  desire  would  not  leave  him.  It 
intruded  on  his  prayers,  and  interrupted  his  duties,  till  it  came 
to  appear  to  him  like  a  temptation  of  the  devil.  At  last,  in  the 
watches  of  the  night,  in  the  very  stress  of  his  efforts  to  keep  off  the 
haunting  idea,  *in  the  agony  and  conflict  of  his  thoughts,'  the 
thing  which  he  had  so  long  given  up  hoping  for  presented  itself 
and  filled  him  with  joy.  The  discovery,  Eadmer  tells  us,  was  more 
than  once  nearly  lost  from  the  mysterious  and  unaccountable 
breaking  of  the  wax  tablets  on  which  his  first  notes  were  written, 
before  they  were  finally  arranged  and  committed  to  the  parchment. 
The  result  was  the  famous  argument  of  the  Proslogion,  the  argu- 
ment revived  with  absolute  confidence  in  it  by  Descartes,  and 
which  still  employs  deep  minds  in  France  and  Germany  with  its 
fascinating  mystery— that  the  idea  of  God  in  the  human  mind  of 
itself  necessarily  involves  the  reality  of  that  idea." 

Church,  "  St.  Anselm,"  76. 

Note  D. 
" The  great  work  of  Anselm,  '  Cur  Dens  Homo'  first  developed 
that  plan  of  salvation,  which  is  the  one  subject  of  many  Protestant 
preachers.  In  this  work,  the  term  'satisfaction'  is  for  the  first 
time  applied  to  the  atoning  work  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus 
Christ,  and  it  is  a  term  employed  to  suggest  an  explanation  of  the 
whole  mystery  of  redeeming  love.  When  (jod  commanded  rational 
creatures,  angels  and  men,  into  existence,  the  relation  which  He 
assumed  towards  them  was  that  of  a  Sovereign.     Sovereign  power 


94  GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

implies  the  existence  of  a  law,  and  a  pledge  to  enforce  it.  The  one 
law  to  all  created  intelligence  is  obedience,  or  the  submission  of 
the  created  will  to  that  of  the  sovereign  ruler.  As  long  as  this  sub- 
mission lasts,  the  creature  lives  and  lives  in  happiness,  there  is  no 
impediment  to  his  happiness,  there  is  no  cause  for  his  destruction. 
But  this  implies  death  and  misery  as  the  inevitable  consequence  of 
disobedience.  The  consequence  cannot  be  avoided  without  the 
annihilation  of  law ;  and  the  annihilation  of  law  would  be  the 
triumph  of  the  created  will  over  that  of  the  Creator,  ai\d  the  con- 
version of  the  universe  into  a  hell.  •  On  the  fall  of  "human  nature, 
therefore,  the  well-being  of  creation  required  the  misery  and  death 
of  man,  unless  something  were  done  which  would  maintain  the 
majesty  of  the  law  as  forcibly  as  our  condemnation.  But  the 
obedience  of  God  to  His  own  law  would  be  more  than  an  equivalent, 
and  this  God  condescended  to  render.  But  God,  as  God,  could 
neither  obey  nor  disobey.  God,  therefore,  in  the  second  Person  of 
the  ever-blessed  Trinity,  without  ceasing  to  be  God,  became  man 
also  ;  and  the  God-man  became  obedient  unto  death.  Thus  we  see 
why  God  was  made  man  ;  how  the  demands  of  the  law  were  satis- 
fied, and  the  Divine  honour  vindicated  even  though  the  God  of 
justice  extended  His  pardon,  under  the  condition  of  repentance,  to  a 
fallen  and  outlawed  race."— i/^tfi-,  "  Archbishops  of  Cant.,"  ii.,  270. 

Note  E. 

The  following  definitions  are  given  by  modern  writers  of 
Realism  and  Nominalism. 

"  The  realists  rriaintain  that  every  general  term,  or  abstract  idea, 
such  as  man,  virtue,  has  a  real  independent  existence,  quite  irre- 
spective of  any  concrete  individual  determination,  such  as  Smith, 
benevolence,  etc.  The  nominalists,  oh  the  contrary,  maintain  that 
all  general  terms  are  but  the  creations  of  human  ingenuity,  desig- 
nating no  distinct  entities,  but  merely  used  as  marks  of  aggregate 
conceptions.  The  realists,  finding  the  one  in  the  many— in  other 
words,  finding  certain  characteristics  common  to  all  men,  and  not 
only  common  to  them,  but  necessary  to  their  being  men,  abstracted 
these  general,  characteristics  from  the  particular  accidents  of 
individual  mea,  and  out  of  these  characteristics  made  what  they 
called  universals,  what  we  call  genera.  These  universals  existed 
per'se.  They  were  not  only  conceptions  of  the  mind,  they  were 
entities."— Zi'W^j,  "Hist,  of  Phil.,"  ii.,  61,  64. 


ANSELM.  95 

"Some  of  the  Schoolmen  were  Platonic  realists,  but  the  prevalent 
opinion  was  that  universals  do  not  6xist  before  things,  nor  after 
things,  but  in  things,— z>.  universal  ideas  have  not  (as  Plato 
thought)  an  existence  separable  from  individual  objects,  and  there- 
fore they  could  not  have  existed  prior  to  them  in  order  of  time  ; 
nor  yet  (according  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Stoics}  are  they  mere  con- 
ceptions of  the  mind,  formed  in  consequence  of  an  examinatirtn  and 
comparison  of  particulars  ;  but  these  ideas,  or  forms,  arc  from 
eternity  united  inseparably  with  that  matter  of  which  things 
consist,  or  as  the  Aristotelians  sometimes  express  themselves,  the 
forms  of  things  are  from  eternity  immersed  in  matter." — D,  Stewart^ 
"Elements.  Phil.,"  169. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  STRUGGLE  OF  RATIONALISM. -PETER 
ABELARD. 


"  Thougli  exposed  to  a  (errilile  storm  Ajax  reached  the  Gyrean  rock  and 
indulged  in  a  ra->h  boast  of  having  escaped  the  defiance  of  the  gods.  No 
sooner  did  I'oseidon  hear  this  language  than  he  struck  with  his  trident  the 
rock  which  Ajax  was  grasping,  and  precipitated  both  into  the  sea." 

— Grote, 

"  Look  how  the  sheep,  whose  rambling  steps  do  stray 
From  the  safe  blessing  of  the  shepherd's  eyes, 
F.ftsoon  become  the  unprotected  prey 
To  the  winged  s<]uadron  of  beleag'ring  flies  ; 
Where  sweltered  with  the  scorching  beams  of  day, 
She  frisks  from  brook  to  brake,  and  wildly  flies  away 
From  her  ownself,  ev'n  of  herself  afraid  ; 
She  shrouds  her  troubl<>d  brows  in  every  glade, 
And  craves  the  mercy  of  the  soft  rehnoving  shade." 

— F.    QUARLES. 


VI. 

the  struggle  of  ration alism.-feter 
abElard. 

The  name  of  Ab^lard  shedg  brightness  upon  a  dull 
chapter  in  human  history.  In  an  age  of  some  pedantry, 
of  overweening  ambition  and  ecclesiastical  corruption, 
he  rises  like  a  free  classic  spirit.  As  associated  with 
Heloise,  he  is  surrounded  by  a  golden  Iiaze  of  romance. 
Their  letters,  often  republished,  much  wept  over,  widely 
read,  the  objects  of  literary  criticism  and  poetic  appre- 
ciation, have  made  them,  as  a  pair  of  lovers,  as  notorious 
as  Romecj  and  Juliet.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the 
sentimental  interest  thus  stirred  has  interfered  with 
the  fame  of  Ab^lard  as  a  philosopher,  for  he  was  the 
brightest  luminary  of  the  twelfth  century.  lie  was  an. 
orator  of  the  first  order,  a  bold  speculator,  profoundly 
read  in  philosophy,  giving  voice  to  the  insurgent  spirit 
of  the  times  as  none  other  did  or  could  do,  and  waging 
a  fierce  war  in  behalf  of  the  sovereignty  of  reason  and 
conscience,  affirming  the  right  o^  the  human  under- 
standing to  be  the  judge  of  truth  and  error  as  against 
the  mere  authority  of  ecclesiastical  tradition.  He  was 
born  at  Palet,  not  far  from  Nantes,  in  Brittany,  in  1079. 
He  showed  an  extraordinary  aptitude  for  intellectual 
pursuits.  He  first  gathered  up  what  knowledge  he 
could  in  the  schools  of  the  contiguous  districts,  then  he 


loo         GRF.A  T  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

studied  in  the  advanced  seminaries  of  learning  in  bur- 

rounding  provinces,  and  then  went  to  perfect  himself  at 

Paris.      He  was  a  student  for  some  time  under  Roscellin, 

and   was  fascinated  with    his   Nominalistic  tendencies. 

He  also  repaired  to  William  dc  Champeaux,  the  most 

renowned  disputant  of  the  Realist  school  then  living, 

and  drank  in  his  teaching.      He  quickly  surpassed  his 

masters.      As  he  sat  in  the  great  Cathedral  school  of 

Notre  Dame  listening  to  William,  he  stepped  forward 

and  engaged  with  his  master  in  a  dispute  of  dialectics. 

He  proved  himself  far  more  than  equal  to  him  in  the 

contest,  and  although  still  under  twenty  years  of  age 

he    sought    to    establish    a   school    of  his  own.     The 

influence  of  William  was  too  great  for  this  to  be  done 

in  Paris,  and  he  proceeded  to  Melun,  and  after  lecturing 

there  for  a  brief  time  v;ith  great  success  he  removed  to 

Corbeil,  so  as  to  be  nearer  to  the  metropolitan  city  of 

France.     The   intense    mental   strain   involved  by  his 

prelections,    and    the   excitement    resulting    from    the 

numbers  who  flocked  to  hear  him,  injured  his  health, 

and  he  was  obliged  to  retire  into  privacy  for  a  short 

period.    In  1108  he  returned  to  Paris.      His  old  master 

and  antagonist  was  no  longer  lecturing  at  Notre  Dame, 

but  in  a  monastic  retreat  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the 

city.      He  drew  him  out  into  combat  onc€  more,  and 

by  his  vigorous  exp<jsure  of  the  results  of  the  extreme 

Realism  he  advocated,  he  forced  hirn   into  a  decided 

change   of  position.     The  fame  of  Abc'lard  rose  into 

unrivalled    supremacy  on    this   result    being   attained. 

William  was  still  able  to  exert  so  much  influence  as  to 

prevent  him  lecturing  in  Paris,  and  for  a  short  time  he 

retired  again   to   Melun.     Soon  he  came  to  the  great 

centre  once  more,  and  set  up  a  school  on  the  heights  of 

St.  Genevieve  in  view  of  Notre  Dame.      He  listened  to 


THE  STRUGGLE  OF  RATlONALJsM.  loi 

Anselm  of  Laon,  a  })upil  of  Ansolm  the  Great,  whose 
school  had  become  ihc  most  famous  in  Europe  ;  he 
entered  into  dispute  with  him  in  theology,  and  strongly 
denounced  his  Realistic  views  both  in  philosophy  and 
religion.  Then  he  assumed  the  chair  of  Notre  Dame, 
and  became  a  Canon  of  the  Cathedral  in  i  J  i  5. 

The  position  of  Abelard  at  this  point  seems  to  have 
been  one  of  pre-eminent  popularity  and  influence.  His 
talents  were  brilliant  ;  he  had  obtained  familiarity  with 
the  most  subtle  question?  which  then  agitated  the 
hearts  of  great  thinkers;  he  had  a  splendid  utterance, 
and  an  expressive  eloquence ;  he  was  handsome  in 
appearance  ;  he  combined  the  attainments  of  a  scholar 
with  the  refinements  o\  jxictry  and  music.  He  had 
been  followed  by  crowds  of  enthusiastic  students  at 
Melun  and  Corbeil,  and  now  in  Paris  it  is  said 
tlious.inds  fio<  kcd  to  his  lectures  ;  they  came  from  all 
parts  of  France,  from  Italy,  Germany,  Holland,  and 
even  from  England,  and  drank  in  his  teachings  with 
ardour.  Had  he  been  as  calm  and  devout  in  his 
piety  as  Anselm,  had  he  bcei  possessed  of  a  magnifi- 
cent and  unselfish  purpose  like  Luther,  had  he  pre- 
served himself  in  the  spiritual  humility  of  Bonaventura, 
he  might  have  antedated  the  Reformation  by  many 
generations  ;  or  if  the  times  were  not  then  ripe  for  such 
a  Titanic  revolution,  he  might  have  left  behind  him  a 
positive  work  of  splendid  beaeficonce  to  all  generations, 
rather  than  a  few  obscuie  fragments  which  lay  unheeded 
until  a  brilliant  countiyman  of  not  unrelated  spirit 
gathered  and  dressed  them  for  the  taste  of  the  curious 
of  this  age.' 

But  he  had  great  .self-confidence  ;  he  was  wrought 
upon  by  his  popularity,  he  came  to  think  himself  tlie 
'  Cousin,  "  Ouvrages  inedits  d'Abelard." 


los         GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

only  philosopher  remaining  in  the  world,  and  he  feasted 
himself  in  the  admiration  of  his  students  and  followers. 
He  seems  not  to  have  been  of  a  devout  spirit  in  these 
days,  and  such  devoutness  as  characterised  a  Gerson  or 
an  k  Kempis  could  be  the  only  preservative  from 
downfall  amidst  such  flattery  and  adulation  as  were 
offered  to  Abelard. 

Nor  was  it  possible  but  that  a  widespread  jealousy 
should  arise  in  the  hearts  of  many  ecclesiastics  con- 
cerning him.  The  society  of  Paris  followed  him  ;  the 
learned  listened  to  him  with  candour,  the  ignorant  with 
reverential  awe,  the  rich  poured  wealth  upon  him,  the 
noblest  felt  it  an  honour  to  entertain  him  ;  some  of  the 
more  enlightened  or  moral  of  the  clergy  hailed  him  as 
a  teacher  sent  from  God ;  but  the  herd  of  indolent  and 
immoral  ecclesiastics  of  all  orders  hated  him  with  a 
fierce  and  uncompromising  hatred.  His  relation  to  the 
Church  was  a  strange  one.  He  professed  the  pro- 
foundest  reverence  for  it :  yet  he  struck  with  mailed 
hand  at  the  teachings  of  its  most  cherished  theo- 
logians ;  he  had  become  enrolled  in  its  priesthood,  but 
he  was  the  stern  exponent  of  clerical  abuses ;  he  was 
bound  by  his  ordination  oath  to  preserve  unquestioning 
submission  to  Church  dogmas  and  teachings,  and  yet 
his  whole  system  of  philosophy  and  religion  was  a  pro- 
longed protest  against  the  blind  subservience  which  the 
Church  of  Rome  exacts  from  its  sons,  a  subservience 
which  degrades  faith  from  being  a  living  and  expansive 
principle  Into  a  shrivelling  superstition,  which  while 
professing  to  make  men  into  Christians  robs  them  of 
the  very  prerogatives  of  manhood.  It  will  be  needful 
here  to  attempt  a  brief  account  of  the  opinions  he 
professed  on  leading  doctrines  both  in  philosophy  and 
theology 


THE-  STRUGGLE  OE  RA  TIONA I  ISM.  103 

On   the  central   subject    of  dispute,  viz.,  Univcrsals. 
he  took  ground  midway  between   the  extreme  j)oints 
occupied  by  his  old   teachers,  Roscellin   at   Cornpiegnc, 
and    Williann    at  Paris.      Realism   up  to  this  time  had 
received    its    inspiration    mainly    from    Pl.ito   and    the 
Platonists    of  the   Alexandrian   school.      But    Aboard 
seems  to  have  been  mainly  influenced  by  Aristotle,  and 
in  his  leading  positions  touched  with  those   laid  down 
by  the  great  Stagyrlte.      He  taught  that  Universals  did 
not  consist  in  words  as  such,  but  in  words  considered 
in  reference  to  their  signifiration.     The  forms  of  things 
were  in  the   Divine  mind   as  conceptions  before  they 
were    created       Realities    were    only    to   be   found    in 
individual   concretes ;    here   he  agreed    with   Aristotle, 
but  he  also  affirmed  that  they  were  not  mere  words, 
but  that  they  consisted  in  the  fact  of  predication.     The 
mind,  by  a  process  of  abstraction  and  generalisation,  by 
combining   the   resemblances   of   things,  and  omitting 
their  differences.constructed  conceptions, general  notions, 
universal  cognitions,  which  however  only  cxHst  within 
the   mind    which   conceives   them.     These   genera,   or 
Universals,  had  an  ideal   but  not  a  real  existence,  and 
form  the  objects  which  the  mind  beholds  when  it  uses 
terms    of    an    abstract   nature,  as   humanity  or   plant. 
The  teaching  of  Ab^lard   is   stated   by  Cousin   to  be 
Conceptualism,    but  he    differed   from    many  Conccp- 
tualists,    in    not    concerning    himself    sufficiently   with 
the  mental  subsistence  of  the  conception. 

In  theology  his  teaching  was  a  wide  divergence  from 
the  received  doctrine  as  laid  down  by  Anselm  and 
Augustine.  He  strongly  denounced  a  blind  belief  in 
the  mere  authority  of  the  Church,  and  insisted  that 
faith  must  always  have  a  safe  foundation  of  fact  and 
rational   argument  to   rest  upon.      He  said  conviction 


i04         GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

should  always  be  the  product  of  fact  and  reason,  and 
that  from  this  conviction  should  arise  the  love  which 
could  prompt  the  soul  to  trust  in  God,  to  accept  His 
word,  because  it  is  His,  and  to  centre  itself  in  Him  as 
the  object  of  its  hope  and  action.  In  this  view  he 
anticipated  many  of  the  Protestants  of  the  future  in 
their  contest  for  hberty  of  conscience  and  the  right  of 
priv'ate  judgment  He  also  denied  the  authority  of  the 
early  Fathers  of  the  Church,  and  sought  to  sweep  away 
the  basis  of  tradition  on  which  much  of  the  doctrine  of 
the  Church  rested. 

He  attempted  to  show  the  existence  of  entire  har- 
mony between  Christianit)/aTid  philosophy,  and  affirmed 
tliat  the  umversally  acknowledged  truths  of  reason,  and 
the  moral  laws  with  which  the  heathen  were  acquainted 
are  confirmed,  established,  and  supplemented  by  the 
higher  authority  of  Divine  revelation.  He  sought  to 
establish  the  existejiee  of  God  by  moral  proof,  especially 
by  the  voice  of  conscience  and  by  the  moral  freedom 
and  accountability  of  ali  rational  creatures.  He  agreed 
with  Augustine  that  the  attributes  of  God  not  only  form 
one  -."'ole  but  are  identical  with  the  Divine  Being,  and 
cannot  therefore  be  r^arded  as  accidental,  or  as  being 
simply  attached,  thus  resolving  God  into  an  association 
of  attributes.  He  affirmed  that  God  can  do  everything 
that  can  be  done  without  impairing  His  absolute  per- 
fection, and  declared,  in  opposition  to  some  others  of 
the  Schoolmen,  that  God  could  rnakc  nothing  else  and 
nothing  better  than  what  He  has  made.  This  opinion, 
which  in  effect  was  afterwards  advocated  by  Leibnitz, 
was  declared  by  Hugo  St.  Victor  and  others  of  his 
opponents  to  be  blasphemous.  In  treating  of  the  sub- 
ject of  the  Trinity  he  professed  views  which  it  is  difficult 
to  distinguish  from  Sabellianism.     He  argued,  from  the 


THE  STRUGGLE  OF  RATIONALISM.  105 

perfection  of  the  Divine  nature,  that  God  must  be  in- 
finitely powerful,  wise,  and  good.  These  three  qualities, 
power,  wisdom,  goodness,  were  the  three  Persons  in  the 
Godhead  so  called,  and  the  difference  was  merely  nom- 
inal. It  will  be  recollected  that  y\nselm  was  scarcely 
more  orthodox  in  professing  to  defend  the  doctrine  of 
the  Church  on  the  Trinity  against  the  Tritheism  of 
Roscellin. 

On  tile  doctrine  of  the  nature  of  sin  he  vigorously 
attacked  the  teaching  of  John  Scotus,  which  was  widely 
diffused.  This  view  treated  sin  as  being  simply  negative 
in  its  character,  and  represented  human  nature  as  being 
passive  under  its  inilictitjri,  comparing  it  to  the  leprosy 
which  infected  humanity,  but  which  could  be  removed 
by  the  exercise  of  Divine  mercy.  Abelard  taught  that 
sin  lay  in  the  intention  of  the  person  committing  it,  and 
that  the  criminal  element  in  sin  was  the  approbation 
afforded  it  by  the  person  committing  it.  But  in  the 
case  of  new-bom  infants,  where  the  will  is  not  as  yet 
exercised,  he  considered  that  though  by  inheritance  they 
shared  in  the  results  of  sin,  they  were  not  guilty  of  sin 
until  an  evil  intention  was  conceived  by  them  and 
executed. 

He  strongly  opposed  the  view  of  the  Atonement 
propounded  by  Ansel m.  Me  viewed  the  Atonement 
in  its  moral  rather  than  its  legal  aspect,  and  denied 
that  its  cause  was  that  an  equivalent  must  be  paid 
to  the  Divine  justice  for  the  infinite  guilt  of  sin.  He 
taught  with  great  emphasis  and  force  that  the  cause 
lay  in  the  free  and  infinite  love  of  God,  which  by 
kindling  love  in  the  breast  of  man,  leads  him  to  the 
enjoyment  of  the  forgiveness  of  sin,  and  of  being  cleansed 
from  all  its  pollution.  Both  Anselm  and  Abelard  in 
their  views  were  wrong  by  defect  rather  than  by  actual 


io6         GREAT  SCHOOr.AfFN  OF  THE  MlhDLE  AGES. 

tri  ror, — and  of  how  many  controversialists  may  the  same 
be  affirmed. 

In  his  view  of  the  Incarnation  he  occupied  a  position 
of  great  weakness,  and  indeed  extracted  from  it  all  its 
reality.  He  said  that  God  and  man  by  their  very 
natures  are  so  absolutely  diverse  that  an  incarnation  on 
the  part  of  God  was  an  impossibility,  but  that  in  the 
man  Jesus  Christ  God  worked  His  wisdom,  revealing 
itself  in  order  to  lead  men  to  salvation  by  teaching  and 
example.  He  took  the  stand,  that  as  God  is  equally 
present  as  to  His  Essence  He  could  not  move  from  place 
to  place  ;  but  he  seemed  to  forget  that  God  must  be 
equally  present  as  to  His  wisdom  as  well  as  to  His 
Essence,  and  that  thus  no  more  could  His  wisdom  be 
afforded  to  Christ  in  an  extraordinary  degree  than  could 
His  Essence  be  incarnated. 

Hiii  writings  abound  with  fervent  admiration  of  the 
ancient  philosophers,  especially  as  to  the  calm  dignity 
of  their  live:;,  and  he  frequently  and  in  words  of  fierce 
reprobation  contrasted  the  severe  purity  of  their  lives 
witli  the  profligate  unchasteness  of  the  clergy  of  the 
Church. 

Such  was  the  teaching,  bold,  startling,  and  as  to  its 
general  tenor  noble,  which  Abt^lard  afforded  in  his 
prelections,  listened  to  by  anxious  thousands.  He 
drew  from  other  schools  in  Paris  all  their  pupils;  he  had 
many  sitting  round  him  who  had  such  kindling  inspira- 
tion stirred  within  them  as  to  lead  them  to  great  fame 
in  after  days  ;  amongst  whom  may  be  mentioned  Pope 
Celestin  II.,  Peter  the  Lombard,  the  Bishop  of  Paris, 
and  Berenger  the  Bishop  of  Poictiers. 

Evil  diiys  were  in  store  for  Ab^lard  ;  he  had  many 
enemies  around  watching  eagerly  for  an  opportunity  to 
effect  his   downfall,   but  he  became  himself  the  worst 


THE  STRUGGLE  OF  RATICNALISM.  lo? 

enemy  of  his  happiness  and  prosperity.  His  unequalled 
fame  and  popularity  rendered  him  vain  and  unwatchful, 
he  indulged  in  pride  and  was  betrayed  into  undue 
pleasures.  Manifold  troubles  came  upon  him  which 
clouded  his  reputation,  and  when  he  was  emerging  from 
the  afflictions  in  which  he  had  been  involved,  he  was  met 
by  an  antagonist  of  formidable  powers  and  of  enormous 
influence,  who  wrestled  with  him  as  a  disputant  in  several 
spheres,  and  who  overwhelmed  him,  if  not  by  the  strength 
of  argument,  by  the  authority  and  anathemas  of  the 
Church. 

There  dwelt  in   Paris  a  young  lady  named    Heloise, 
seventeen  years  of  age,  and  niece  to  Fiilbert,  one  of  the 
canons  of  Notre  Dame.     Conflicting  accounts  are  given 
of  her  appearance,  for  while  some  writers  ascribe  to  her 
superlative    beaut}'-,  others    affirm    that  she    was   only 
moderately  attractive.     All  agree  that  she  had  attain- 
ments and  talents  of  the  rarest  kind.     She  had  been 
trained  carefully  by  the  most  accomplished  masters,  she 
was  familiar  with   current  literature  ;  like  Aspasia,  she 
could  converse  freely  on  the  exciting  topics  discussed  in 
the  schools,  and  she  even  excelled  Ab^lard  himself  in 
the   knowledge  of  the   classic  languages  of  the  world. 
She  was  the  idol  and  boast  of  her  uncle  Fulbert,  who 
considered  nothing  too  valuable  to  be  spent  or  to  be 
obtained   to  promote  her  enjoyment.      It  was  impossible 
but  that  such  a  damsel  should   meet  with  the  versatile, 
brilliant,  accomplished   orator  who    was  turning  Paris 
upside  down.      It   was  scarcely  less    likely  that   in  his 
desire  to  secure  every  advantage  for  his  niece  Fulbert 
should  obtain  for  her  the  tuition  of  Ab^lard.      It  was  not 
to  be  expected  that  there  should  grow  between  these  two 
an  affection  of  the  intensest    fervidness,  which  dccj^ened 
by-and-bye  into  an  impure  and    guilty  attachment,  but 


io8         GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

which  afterwards  emerged  into  a  constant  and  disinter- 
ested love  of  the  most  romantic  character,  which  has 
caused  their  names  to  be  linked  by  posterity  as  symbol- 
ising devoted  and  undying  sentiment.  Abt^lard  was 
thirty-nine  years  of  age,  Heloise  was  but  seventeen ;  he 
was  devoted  to  the  high  pursuits  of  philosophy,  he  had 
been  ordained  to  the  sacred  calling  of  the  priesthood, 
and  apparently  had  his  mind  filled  by  an  intellectual 
enthusiasm,  whilst  she  was  but  a  girl,  little  likely  to  be 
absorbed  by  an  overpowering  passion  for  a  man  of 
middle  age  and  devoted  to  a  clerical  life.  But  in  spite 
ol  the  unlikelihood  of  the  case  there  sprang  up  between 
them  an  affection  so  unlicensed  as  to  overleap  all  the 
barriers  of  prudence  and  morality.  The  way  opened  for 
Abelard  to  become  an  inmate  of  Fulbert's  house,  and  he 
gladly  availed  himself  of  the  opportunity.  His  conduct 
in  this  matter  has  been  variously  represented.  Some 
writers  aver  that  he  by  certain  pretexts  gained  a  resi- 
dence there  for  the  purpose  of  pursuing  his  amour, 
others  that  Fulbert  induced  him  to  accept  a  home  with 
him  in  his  anxiety  to  secure  for  Heloise  the  advantage 
of  his  incomparably  brillidJit  conversation.  In  any 
case,  and  it  may  be  best  to  acquit  Abelard  of  the 
sinister  intention,  the  result  was  bad  ;  he  and  the  too 
susceptible  girl  were  carried  away  by  the  excess  of 
evil  passion,  and  while  Fulbert  was  unsuspecting  of 
harm  the  virtue  of  his  niece  departed.  When  he  dis- 
covered the  mischief  which  had  been  wrought,  he 
attempted  to  separate  them,  but  in  vain.  The  lovers 
eloped  and  fled  into  Brittany,  where  shortly  Heloise 
became  the  mother  of  a  son,  who  did  not  live  long. 
Abelard  returned  to  Pari.s,  gained  an  interview  with  the 
furiou.s  Fulbert,  and  offered  lo  marry  his  niece  secretly. 
In    making    a   condition   like   this,   Abelard    was    not 


THE  STRUGGLE  OF  RATIONALISM.  109 

actuated  by  any  shame  of  Il.cloise.  or  by  any  diminution 
of  affection,  but  was  siraj^ly  conforming  to  the  spirit  of 
the  ajje,  which  was  so  far  in  favour  of  celibacy  that 
marriage  in  a  public  teacher  of  philosophy  or  reh'gion 
was  a  certain  barrier  to  his  success.  Fulbert  consented, 
being  anxious  for  aught  that  could  help  to  repair  the 
reputation  of  a  girl  he  loved  better  than  his  life.  The 
ceremony  was  performed,  Abclard  returned  to  his 
former  lodgings  in  Paris,  and  pursued  his  work,  whilst 
Heloise  lived  in  her  uncle's  house.  They  saw  each 
other  only  at  long  intervals,  and  ai^  might  have  gone 
well  but  for  the  apprehensiveness  of  Fulbert.  He  was 
so  anxious  for  the  welfare  of  his  niece  that  he  divulged 
the  fact  of  her  marriage.  She,  inspired  by  a  .self- 
abnegation  which  was  amazing,  at  the  expense  of  truth 
and  honour  denied  on  oath  that  any  marriage  had 
taken  place.  This  drove  Fulbert  to  distraction  ;  he 
became  so  outrageous  that  the  life  of  Heloise  was 
insupportable.  Ab<51ard  and  she  a  second  time  fled 
from  Paris,  and  he  placed  her  for  refuge  in  the  convent 
of  Argenteuil.  The  distressed  and  exasperated  canon 
became  desperate  ;  he  hired  a  gang  of  ruffians,  and  with 
them  broke  into  Abc'lard's  apartment  while  he  was 
asleep.  They  fiercely  assaulted  him.  and  inflicted  on 
him  a  most  shameful  mutilation,  and  it  was  with  the 
greatest  difficulty  that  his  life  was  preserved.  When 
the  crime  was  bruited  abroad  the  city  rang  with  cries 
for  vengeance  upon  the  pcr[>etrators.  Fulbert  tied  before 
the  terrific  storm,  and  was  heard  of  no  more.  His 
goods  \<^ere  confiscated,  and  the  sentence  of  death  was 
written  against  his  name  in  the  court  of  justice. 

Abelard  found  himself  cast  headlong  from  the  pinnacle 
of  honour  into  the  pit  of  shame.  He  was  overwhelmed 
with  his  misery  ;  he   retired   into  the   monastery  of  St. 


I  lo         GKEA  T  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  ATinnTE  ACES. 

Deiiys,  and  took  the  oaths  of  the  order  of  St.  Benedict. 
Heloise  also  retired  from  the  world,  and  became  a  nun 
in  the  convent  of  Argenteuil.  Abdard  for  some  time 
buried  himself  fn  hir.  cell,  and  there  by  quiet  exercises 
and  meditations  nought  to  soothe  and  heal  his  wounded 
spirit  To  a  nu'nd  like  his  the  cloister  did  not  bring 
peace,  nor  tho  cell  contribute  calmness.  His  heart  was 
not  there ;  both  heart  and  sympathy  were  with  the 
controversies  and  excitements  of  the  Schools  outside. 
Therefore  in  a  year  he  yielded  to  many  urgent  solici- 
tations which  were  pressed  upon  him,  and  he  opened  a 
school  at  the  priory  of  Maisoncelle  in  1 1 20.  His 
lectures  were  fragrant  with  a  spirit  of  devotion,  which 
in  other  days  they  had  been  destitute  of,  and  were 
listened  to  by  eager  throngs  of  admirers  ;  his  old  popu- 
larity returned,  and  his  influence  seemed  to  be  greater 
than  ever. 

Whilst  his  lectures  were  more  spiritual  in  tone  than 
before,  they  were  not  less  bold  in  speculation,  nor  less 
free  in  censuring  ecclesiastical  assumption  and  corrup- 
tion. The  old  spirit  of  enmity  was  aroused  against 
him,  and  a  legion  of  angry  antagonists  watched  for  an 
occasion  against  him.  They  had  not  long  to  wait ;  he 
prc[.are«l  his  theological  lectures,  and  issued  them  with 
the  title  Introductio  ad  Tfmologium,  and  a  charge  was 
fastened  upon  him  of  having  taught  erroneous  doctrine 
on  the  .subject  of  the  Holy  Trinity.  He  was  arraigned 
for  teaching  the  heresy  of  SabcUius  \n  a  provincial 
synod  h<.'l(l  at  Soissons,  and  presided  over  by  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Rhcims.  He  was  incapacitated  by  his  recent 
troijf)lrs  from  making  a  bold  defence,  his  views  were 
stigniat.i.>^cd  by  the  council  as  blasphemous  and  heretical, 
and  he  was  condemned  to  commit  the  book  containing 
the  obnoxious  teachings  with  his  own  hands    to    the 


77//;  ^'  /  R Ur.Gl. E  OF  RA  TJONA L  fS /)/.  1 1 1 

flames.  1  Ic  was  tlijcn  again  immured  in  the  convent  of 
St.  Denys,  but  with  the  same  experience  which  attended 
his  previous  effort  of  monastic  life.  His  free  spirit  chafed 
and  fretted  against  the  isolation  and  uselessness  of  his 
position.  Like  a  caged  bird  of  the  woods,  he  beat 
himself  against  the  wires  of  his  cage  until  he  was  weary 
and  wounded.  Then  he  aggravated  the  monks  of  the 
convent  by  affirming  that  their  patron  .saint  was  not,  a» 
the  tradition  of  several  centuries  affirmed,  Dionysius  the 
Areopagite  converted  by  St.  Paul.  To  atte^npt  to  rob 
them  of  their  presumed  patron,  and  France  of  its 
idolised  saint,  was  sufficient  to  .stir  up  the  most  bitter 
hatred  of  him,  which  the  monks  showed  with  such 
virulence  that,  finding  hi.s.  life  was  in  danger,  he  filed 
secretly  from  his  retreat;,  took  refuge  in  the  wood  of 
Kogent-sur-Seine,  constn»cted  a  rude  hut  of  boughs 
and  leaves,  and  there  lived  for  a  time  in  fellowship  with 
the  open  face  of  Nature.  But  he  could  not  be  hid  ;  his 
retreat  was  made  known,  students  began  to  gather 
round  him,  and  increased  with  such  rapidity  that  the 
wilderness  became  thronged  with  eager  souls,  who  impro- 
vised huts  of  reeds  and  straw,  and  once  more  reverently 
listened  to  the  voice  which  was  more  potent  than  any 
other  in  that  age.  A  building  of  stone  to  replace  the 
humble  cot  was  reared  by  their  loving  hands  for  Abe- 
lard,  large  enough  for  his  lectures  to  be  delivered  in, 
and  which  he  in  gratitude  to  God  called  by  the  name 
"  The  Paraclete,"  as  he  had  there  found  peace  after 
bitter  storms.  He  was  not  allowed  to  remain  undis- 
turbed long.  His  enemies  followed  him  with  efforts  to 
disturb  his  peace,  and  he  was  filled  with  apprehensions 
of  new  persecutions  which  might  overwhelm  him.  On 
receiving  an  invitation  from  his  Sovereign  the  Duke  of 
Brittany  to  preside  over  the  Abbey  of  St.  Gildas  de 


112         GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

Rhuys,  he  left  the  Paraclete  and  accepted  the  appointment 
with  great  joy.  It  was  a  poor  exchange  ;  the  Abbey 
was  situated  on  a  rock  on  the  distant  shore  of  Lower 
Brittany,  the  population  were  almost  savages,  the  monks 
were  rude  and  disorderly,  and  a  more  uncongenial 
sphere  for  such  a  man  could  not  have  been  found.  He 
was  utterly  wretched  whilst  here,  but  he  endured  the 
banishment  and  anguish  for  ten  long  weary  years,  and 
then,  after  the  monks  had,  it  is  said,  several  times  sought 
to  poison  him,  both  in  his  ordinary  food  and  in  the  Holy 
Sacrament,  fearing  for  his  life  he  fled  from  the  hateful 
spot,  unable  to  endure  its  trials  any  longer.  Whilst  he 
thus  suffered  at  St.  Gildas,  the  convent  of  Argenteuil, 
of  which  Heloise  had  become  prioress,  was  broken  up 
on  the  ground  of  immorality,  and  an  order  of  monks 
established  in  place  of  the  disbanded  nuns.  It  has 
never  by  any  writer  been  affirmed  that  Heloise  partici- 
pated in  the  licentiousness  prevailing  in  the  convent. 
Abelard  now  exerted  his  influence  with  the  Bishop  of 
Troyes,  and  had  the  Paraclete  witlv  its  surroundings 
bestowed  on  Heloise,  who  founded  a  convent,  becoming 
the  first  Abbess,  and  being  confirmed  in  her  position 
by  Pope  Innocent  II.  in  1131.  This  position  she 
filled  with  a  prudence  and  piety  which  won  enormous 
benefactions  for  the  convent,  and  universal  reverence  for 
her:>elf,  insomuch  that  the  Paraclete  became  renowned 
as  an  establishment  of  purity,  and  a  succession  of  the 
noblest  women  of  France  followed  Heloise  in  her  office 
of  Abbcs.s. 

Abf'lard  after  fleeing  from  St.  Gildas  dwelt  for  -JOme 
time  in  Brittany,  paying  occasional  visits  to  the  Para- 
clete, to  complete  armngcmcnts  regarding  it.  It  was 
during  this  period  that  Abdlard  wrote  his  famous  letter, 
containing  an  account  of  his  calamity,  to  Philintus,  an 


THE  STRUGGLE  OF  RA  TIONALISM.  1 13 

intimate  friend.  By  some  chance,  which  has  never 
been  explained,  the  letter  passed  into  the  hand  of 
Heloise,  who,  recognizing  the  writing,  and  deeming  that 
she  had  a  right  to  peruse  whatever  came  from  him  who 
was  her  husband,  opened  it,  and  read  the  full  recital  of 
the  painfully  romantic  story,  in  which  she  had  played  a 
scarcely  secondary  part.  This  drew  from  Heloise  the 
first  of  her  letters,  which  stands  without  a  parallel  in 
female  epistolary  composition,  as  an  expression  of 
womanly  devotion  and  passionate  affection.  Indeed,  it 
would  seem  as  though  the  severe  restraint  exercised  by 
her  in  the  long  years  which  had  intervened,  and  during 
which  no  word  or  line  had  escaped  her  as  to  her  trials, 
was  now  swept  away  utterly  by  the  overwhelming 
force  of  her  emotions;  and  then  followed  the  correspond- 
ence which  has  linked  their  names  for  ever  in  romantic 
grace.  A  short  time  after  this  it  would  seem  that  both 
body  and  mind  of  Abelard  had  reco\cred  much  of  their 
former  tone,  and  we  find  him  in  Paris.  In  the  school 
on  Mount  St.  Genevieve  he  poured  forth,  to  numerous 
throngs  of  auditors,  lectures  more  profound  and  brilliant 
than  any  he  had  given.  Nor  was  this  all  :  he  sent  forth 
a  number  of  works,  and  especially  one  called  "  Sic  et 
Nonl'  which  exerted  an  enormous  influence  in  its  day. 
It  was  well  calculated  to  disturb  the  minds  of  ecclesi- 
astics who  sought  only  to  preserve  the  authority  of 
their  Church  as  the  unquestioned  arbiter  of  human 
opinion  and  doctrine.  It  presented  one  hundred  and 
fifty-eight  questions,  dealing  with  an  immense  range  of 
subjects.  Every  matter  of  dispute  or  doctrine  regard- 
ing the  Divine  Being,  the  Divine  Persons,  their  natures, 
offices,  and  relations.  Providence,  Predestination,  the 
Origin  of  Evil,  whether  God  was  the  Author  of  it,  was 
He  free,  the  nature  and   offices  of  angels,  the  creation 

8 


1 14         GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

and  fall  of  man,  whether  man  is  free,  whether  Adam  is 
buried  at  Calvary,  whetlier  Adam  js  saved,  whether  the 
Word  in  the  womb  of  the  Virgin  was  quickened  both 
soul  and  body  by  God,  whether  Christ  was  susceptible 
of  change  of  flesh,  with  questions  concerning  Mary, 
Pentecost,  Paul,  Peter,  James,  Philip,  Baptism,  the 
Lord's  Supper,  Presbyters,  down  to  many  inquiries 
about  fornication,  bigamy,  and  such  matters.  On  all 
these  subjects  Ab^lard  adduced  testimonies  of  the  most 
conflicting  kind  from  the  apostles,  the  fathers,  the  popes, 
and  acknowledged  teachers  of  the  Church,  setting  Paul 
and  Augustine  in  opposition  to  each  other,  Gregory 
against  Jerome,  Athanasius  against  Isidore,  and  pre- 
senting a  strange  variety  of  opposite  teachings  amongst 
!nen  whom  the  Church  acknowledged  as  reliable  autho- 
rities. Grave  charges  of  heresy  were  now  freely  made 
against  him,  and  this  book  was  seized  upon  with 
avidity  by  Bernard,  the  Abbot  of  Clarvaux,  who  issued 
in  reply  to  it  a  series  of  letters,  hard  in  assumption, 
bitter  in  irony,  unfair  in  their  dogmatism,  seeking 
rather  to  overwhelm  Abelard  by  Church  authority  than 
td  meet  him  fairly  in  argument.  Abelard  retorted 
with  great  spirit,  and  a  furious  but  magnificent  contest 
waged  for  some  time,  which  resulted  in  Abelard  being 
summoned  to  answer  a  charge  of  heresy  before  a 
council  summoned  to  try  him.  The  assembly  met  at 
Sens  in  1 140.  It  was  a  scene  of  great  splendour  and 
of  intense  excitement.  The  King  of  France  was 
present,  and  took  a  lively  interest  in  the  proceedings  ; 
his  whole  court  attended,  and  presented  a  brilliant 
array  of  mediaeval  finery  ;  prelates,  ecclesiastics,  and 
theologians  crowded  to  it  from  all  parts  of  Europe. 
Bernard  was  commanded  to  prosecute  the  charge 
against  the  accused.      He    shrank  from    the    task,  he 


THE  STRUGGLE  OF  RA  TIONALISM.  1 1 5 

pleaded  that  he  was  unaccustomed  to  such  disputation, 
that  he  was  unfit  for  such  an  enormous  responsibility, 
and  claimed  that  Abclard  should  be  condemned  un- 
heard on  the  simple  testimony  of  his  publications. 
This  was  only  a  natural  manifestation  of  that  spirit  of 
bigotry  and  persecution  which  has  ever  characterised 
the  leading  advocates  of  the  Church  of  Rome.  Ber- 
nard was  not  allowed  to  shirk  the  office  ;  he  reluctantly 
accepted  the  responsibility,  and  prepared  himself  for 
the  contest.  He  was  a  magnificent  figure  in  such  a 
scene,  scarcely  less  notable  or  gifted  than  his  great 
antagonist.  He  was  animated  by  a  noble  enthusiasm 
for  the  Church,  to  which  he  had  surrendered  judgment, 
reason,  will,  and  manhood  ;  his  piety  had  been  sublimed 
by  devotion  into  a  rapture  which  has  given  to  his  hymns 
and  sermons  a  spiritual  glow  which  still  draws  the 
Christian  heart  towards  them  with  cordial  admiration, 
and  he  possessed  a  fiery  energy  of  soul  which  subdued 
emperors,  nobles,  priests,  and  the  multitude  to  his  pur- 
poses for  the  promotion  of  the  Church  of  his  Saviour. 
\{  with  his  high-souled  and  chivalrous  consecration  he 
could  have  combined  the  lofty  and  free  intellect  ol 
Abelard,  or  if  Abelard  could  have  conjoined  with  his 
learning,  his  great  and  daring  spirit  of  enquiry,  the  perfect 
and  lofty  self-sacrifice  of  Bernard,  no  character  could 
have  been  more  complete,  and  no  life  more  beneficent 
than  either  in  the  Middle  Age  of  Christendom. 

Abelard  appeared  before  the  Council,  but  his  spirit 
died  within  him ;  the  overwhelming  opposition  arra\cd 
against  him  unfitted  him  for  battle  worthy  of  himself; 
he  stood  before  his  judges  a  prematurely  old  man,  worn 
by  trouble,  broken-spirited  by  disappointment,  battling 
witli  disease,  a  sad  contrast  to  the  gay,  brilliant, 
scholarly  orator  of  other  days,  who  electrified   by  his 


Ii6  GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

eloquence  the  crowds  of  students  which  clustered  on 
the  hill  of  St.  Genevieve,  and  charmed  the  ladies  of 
the  court  by  his  languishing  songs  of  love.  Instead  of 
attempting  a  defence  in  an  assembly  where  his  con- 
demnation was  a  foregone  conclusion,  he  appealed  to 
Rome,  and  left  the  scene.  Bernard  had  it  all  his  own 
way;  Abelard  was  condemned  by  an  unanimous  vote, 
the  ecclesiastics  were  jubilant,  and  his  great  opponent 
pealed  his  triumph  in  the  words  of  the  Psalmist :  "  I 
have  seen  the  wicked  in  great  power,  and  spreading 
himself  like  a  green  bay  tree ;  but  he  passed  away,  and 
lo  !  he  was  not ;  yea,  I  sought  him,  but  he  could  not 
be  found." 

In  an  earnest  and  dignified  appeal  Abelard  laid  his 
cause  before  the  Pope.  The  Council  of  Sens  also  for- 
warded to  Rome  its  view  of  the  matter,  while  Bernard, 
with  his  sleepless  energy,  wrote  to  the  Pope  supplying 
a  full  list  of  Abelard's  supposed  heresies,  and  urgently 
calling  for  his  condemnation.  He  v/rote  also  to  the 
Cardinals  at  the  Papal  Court,  calling  on  them  to  aid  in 
defending  the  faith  from  the  dangers  threatening  it, 
and  stating  that  extreme  watchfulness  became  them,  as 
Abelard  counted  on  the  influence  of  friends  v/ho  sur- 
rounded the  Pope.  If  he  had  such  friends  in  court, 
they  failed  him,  or  used  their  influence  in  vain.  Bernard 
triumphed  at  Rome  as  he  had  triumphed  at  Sens.  As 
Abelard  was  proceeding  to  Rome,  he  was  met  by  the 
Papal  decree,  which  condemned  him  to  perpetual  silence. 
It  pronounced  excommunication  on  all  his  adherents, 
and  gave  to  the  Archbishops  of  Sens  and  Rheims  and 
to  Bernard  the  power  to  confine  him  in  a  monastery, 
and  burn  his  writings.  Ab6Iard,  broken  down  in  health 
and  spirit,  found  refuge  in  the  monastery  of  Cluny,  then 
presided  over  by  the  learned,  pious,  and  beautiful-souled 


'J-IIE  STRLGGLE  OF  RA  TIONALISM.  117 

Peter  the  Venerable.  He  appreciated  the  greatness  of 
Abelard,  he  recognised  all  the  ^ood  there  was  in  him, 
and  gladly  gave  shelter  to  the  weary  and  distracted 
spirit.  He  did  more  than  this  ;  he  brought  about  at 
least  a  partial  reconciliation  between  Bernard  and 
Abelard,  although  it  is  to  be  feared  that,  from  the 
constitution  of  his  mind,  as  well  as  from  the  severe 
ecclesiastical  trammels  to  which  he  had  submitted, 
Bernard  never  felt  entire  cordiality  towards  the  sup- 
posed heretic.  Then  Peter  obtained  from  the  Pope 
absolution  for  Abelard,  and  enrolled  him  as  one  of  the 
monks  of  Cluny, 

There  the  weary  old  man  found  rest  and  peace.  He 
issued  a  confession,  in  v/hich  he  sought  to  vindicate  his 
motives  in  life,  even  if  he  had  erred  in  practice.  It 
opens  tliuy  : — 

"  Everything,  however  well  said,  may  be  perverted.  I  myself, 
though  I  have  compobeu  hut  a  i^w  ti v.-alises,  and  those  of  small 
extent,  have  not  been  able  to  escape  censure  ;  thoui/h  in  truth, 
in  the  things  on  account  of  which  I  have  been  violently  attacked, 
I  can  (as  (iod  knows)  see  no  fault  v/hatsoever  on  my  part ;  and 
if  any  such  iiiult  can  be  discovered  I  have  no  disposition  to 
defend  it  obstinately.  I  have  perhaps,  from  mistake,  written 
many  things  not  after  the  right  manner;  but  I  call  God  to 
witness  that  in  the  things  for  which  I  am  accused  I  have  main- 
tained notliing  out  of  an  evil  will  or  out  of  pride,  in  my  lectures 
I  have  said  many  things  before  many.  Publicly  I  have  spoken 
what  seemed  to  me  calculated  for  the  edification  of  faith  or  of 
morals;  and  what  I  have  written  I  have  cheerfully  communi- 
cated to  all,  that  I  might  have  them  for  my  judges,  and  not  for 
my  pupils."  ^ 

In  this  work  he  afforded  an  explanation  of  some  of 
the  views  he  had  advocated  which  were  deemed 
dangerous,  but  !\e  retracted  nothing.     On  the  contrary, 

'  Ncandcr.  vol.  viii.,  M3-4- 


I  iS  GREA  T  SCHOOLMEN-  OF  THE  MIDDLE  A  GES. 

in  a  larger  work  he  issued,  called  Apologia,  be  defended 
them,  and  taxed  Bernard  with  misrepresenting  him,  and 
with  dealing  with  matters  he  did  not  understand.  It  is 
important  that  his  latest  attitude  in  regard  to  Church 
doctrine  should  be  understood,  as  his  enemies  delighted 
to  represent  him  as  being  the  victim  of  remorse  on 
account  of  his  sins  and  heresies. 

He  did  not  live  long  in  his  quiet  retreat.  He  lived 
on  the  coarsest  fare,  and  exercised  an  austere  asceticism. 
His  influence  on  the  monks  associated  with  him  was 
beneficial,  and  he  realized  the  picture  he  had  often 
drawn  in  the  days  of  his  popularity,  when  exposing  the 
corruptions  of  the  clergy,  of  the  serene  and  steady  piety 
which  should  give  its  divine  glow  to  a  religious  life.  In 
his  heart  there  burned  to  the  last,  with  a  tranquil, 
undying  blaze,  the  old  love  for  Heloise  ;  nothing  could 
quench  that.  The  last  letter  he  wrote  to  her,  thrilling 
with  exquisite  tenderness,  throbbing  equally  with  affec- 
tion for  her  and  with  sorrow  for  theif  sin,  expressed  his 
feeling  up  to  the  last.  These  are  the  concluding 
lines  : — 

"You  have  been  the  victim  of  my  love  ;  become  now  the 
victim  of  my  repentance-  Accomplish  faithfully  that  which 
God  demands  of  you.  It  is  a  manifesraiicn  of  His  greatness 
that  the  only  foundation  of  His  goodness  to  man  lies  in  our 
weaknesses.  Let  us  mourn  over  ours  at  the  foot  Of  the  altar. 
He  only  waits  for  our  contrition  and  hunvliiy  to  put  an  end  to 
our  misfortunes.  Let  our  repentance  be  as  public  as  our  crimes 
were.  We  are  a  sad  example  of  the  impr'idence  of  youth.  Let 
us  show  our  generation  and  posterity  that  the  repentance  of 
our  errors  has  merited  their  forgiveness,  ^nd.let  us  make  them 
admire  in  us  the  power  of  that  grace  thai  has  been  able  to 
triumph  over  the  tyianny  of  our  passions.  Do  not  be  dis- 
couraged by  occasional  attacks  of  tendern^iss,  lor  it  is  a  virtue 
to  combat  and  overcome  such  attacks.  May  your  knowledge 
of  human  weakness  teach  you  to  support  the  faults  of  your 


THE  STR UGGLE  OF  RA  TIONA L ISM.  1 1 9 

companions.  If  I  have  cormpted  your  mind,  compromised 
your  salvation,  tarnished  your  revtutalion.  destroyed  yourhonour, 
pardon  me,  and  remember  it  is  Christian  mercy  to  forgive  the 
evil  I  have  done  you.  Providence  calls  us  to  Him ;  do  not 
oppose  Him,  Heloise.  Do  not  write  to  me  any  more.  This 
is  the  last  letter  yo'i  vvill  receive  from  me,  but  in  whatsoever 
place  I  die  I  shall  leave  directions  ♦or  my  body  to  be  C(jnveyed 
to  Paraclete.  Then  I  shall  require  prayers,  and  not  tears ; 
then  only  you  will  see  me  to  foruiy  your  piety;  and  my  corpse, 
more  eloquent  than  myself,  will  teach  you  what  one  loves  v  hen 
one  loves  a  man." 

When  his  end  was  approaching,  Heloise  was  sent 
for,  and  an  interview  extremely  tender  and  affecting 
took  place  between  them.  Then  death  came.  He 
met  it  calmly.  His  friends  testified  he  was  well  pre- 
pared for  its  approach,  and  without  a  shudder  or  a  sigh 
he  breathed  his  life  away.  He  died  April  2i;.t,  1142, 
aged  sixty-three  years.  His  remains  were  conveyed  to 
Paraclete  with  a  simple  funeral,  Heloise  being  chief 
mourner.  She  watched  his  grave  whilst  presiding  over 
her  nuns  for  twenty-two  years,  and  then,  in  the  sweetest 
odour  of  sanctity,  fell  on  sleep.  Her  body  was  laid 
beside  his  in  the  grave  ;  and  it  is  not  wonderful  that 
in  an  age  of  pretended  miracles  it  was  said  that  the 
arms  of  Abelard  were  extended  to  welcome  hei  as  her 
remains  were  lowered  to  their'  resting-place.  The 
Venerable  Peter  pronounced  him  after  death  to  have 
been  a  true  servant  of  Christ  and  a  tiue  Christian 
philosopher. 

The  impulse  given  by  Abelard,  not  only  to  learning 
in  general,  but  to  the  liberation  of  religious  thought 
from  mere  ecclesiastical  authority,  was  immense.  Al- 
though his  life  had  been  marred  by  a  sin  which  brought 
a  harvest  of  trouble,  and  by  much  weakness  and  pride, 
and  even  though  much  error  had  mixed  itself  with  his 


I20        GREA  T  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

teaching,  he  laid  the  succeeding  centuries  under  great 
obligation  to  him.  As  to  his  work,  the  line  of  our 
great  poet  was  reversed;  and  of  him  it  may  be  said 
that  the  good  he  did  lived  after  him,  the  evil  was 
interred  with  his  bones.  The  free  and  kindling  enthu- 
siasm he  aroused  in  the  souls  of  his  pupils  m.ay  be  seen 
in  the  ardent  fire  of  liberty  which  burnt  in  Arnold  of 
Brescia,  and  urged  him  to  unavailing  efforts  for  the 
political  enfranchisement  of  Italy  and  Rome.  The 
impulse  he  gave  to  the  cause  of  intellectual  progress 
may  be  estimated  by  the  spirit  of  enquiry  and  discus- 
sion which  arose  after  his  death,  and  by  the  number  of 
really  great  and  learned  men  who  took  such  a  part  in 
those  discussions  as  to  have  preserved  an  honoured 
place  in  history  to  this  day;  but,  above  all,  Abelard 
served  his  generation  and  those  succeeding  by  the 
earnest  and  unyielding  manner  in  which  he  vindicated 
the  right  of  the  human  reason  to  form  a  judgment  on 
matters  of  religious  belief  in  opposition  to  the  claim  of 
the  Church  to  be  the  sole  and  dogmatic  arbiter  of  man's 
faith.  This  was  the  corner-stone  of  all  the  teaching  of 
Abdlard.  His  voice  gave  expression  to  an  estrange- 
ment from  Church  authority  which  was  beginning  to 
be  felt  in  many  hearts,  and  his  determined  stand  against 
the  prevalent  spiritual  despotism  of  the  times  became 
the  starting-point  of  a  new  stream  of  influence,  which 
increased  in  depth  and  volume  until  it  became  the 
general  public  opinion  of  Europe. 

Note  A. 

Petri  Abaelardi.  Sic  et  Non.  Marburgi,  Sumptibus  Librariae. 
Academy  Elwertianac,  1851.  The  following  may  serve  as  a  speci- 
men of  these  questions: — I.  Quod  fides  humanis  rationibus  sit 
adstruenda,  et  contra.      2.  Quod  fides  sit  de  non  apparentlbus 


THE  STRUGGLfL  OF  RATIONALISM.  121 

tantuin  ct  contra.  3.  Quod  aquitio  non  sit  de  non  apparonlibus 
sed  fides  tantuin,  et  contra.  4.  Q""tl  sit  credendurn  in  Dcuin 
solum,  et  contra.  5.  Quod  non  sit  Deus  singularis,  et  contra.  6. 
Quod  sit  Dcus  tripartitus,  et  contra.  7.  Quod  in  triniiate  non 
sint  dicendi  plures  icterni,  et  contra.  8.  Quod  non  sit  multitudo 
senini  in  trinitate  vel  quod  non  sit  trinitas  aliquod  totum,  et  contra. 
9.  Quod  non  sit  Deus  substantia,  et  contra,  etc. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

THE  SWEET  SONG    OF  MYSTICISM.— THE  MONKS 
OF  ST.    VICTOR. 


"  And  yet  what  blhs. 
When  dying  in  the  darkness  of  God's  light, 
The  soul  can  pierce  these  blinding  webs  of  nature, 
And  float  up  to  the  nothing,  which  is  all  things — 
The  ground  of  being,  where  self-forgetful  silence 
Is  emptiness — emptiness  fulness, — fulness  God, — 
Till  we  touch  Him,  and,  like  a  snowflake,  melt 
Upon  His  light  sphere's  keen  circumference. 

— KlNGSLEY. 

"  Thy  home  is  with  the  humble.  Lord, 
The  simple  are  Thy  rest ; 
Thy  lodging  is  in  childlike  hearts, 
Thou  makf-st  there  Thy  n.est." 


VII. 

THE  MONKS   OF  ST.    VICTOR. 

This  book  only  professes  to  deal  with  the  great  School- 
men, but  in  passing  it  is  necessary  to  mention  some 
other  names,  which,  if  not  equal  to  theirs  in  point  of 
importance  or  prominence,  and  not  even  belonging  to 
their  special  department,  yet  were  produced  by  their 
work,  were  related  to  them  in  many  respects,  and  sus- 
tained a  helpful  and  contemporary  stream  of  influence 
which  has  contributed  largely  to  the  development  of 
intellectual,  and  especially  of  Christian  progress. 

There  existed  at  Paris  a  celebrated  foundation  for 
regular  canonicals,  bearing  the  name  of  the  Abbey  ot 
St.  Victor.  A  school  in  connection  therewith  was 
commenced  by  William  of  Champeaux,  which  speedily 
became  famous,  by  reason  of  his  lectures  and  the  crowds 
of  students  which  gathered. round  him.  The  foundation 
was  increased  by  gifts  from  royal  and  noble  donors 
until  it  became  enormously  rich,  and  the  Abbot  St. 
Victor  established  branches  of  the  institution  in  various 
countries,  until  it  had  thirty  abbeys  and  eighty  priories 
in  connection  with  it.  This  Abbey  became  the  home 
of  many  learned  and  pious  men,  who  diffused  a  gracious 
fame  of  the  institution  far  and  wide,  and  especially 
there    grew    up    some    who    combined    with   profound 


126        GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

dialectical  skill  and  culture  a  rich  spirituality  of  mind, 
who  gave  expression  to  another  and,  on  the  devotional 
side,  a  higher  phase  of  the  Christian  life  than  had  yet 
appeared  in  the  Mediaeval  Age,  and  who  largely  antici- 
pated the  Mystics  of  the  fourteenth  century.  It  is  true 
that  the  monks  of  St.  Victor  had  been  somewhat  antici- 
pated in  their  work  by  St.  Bernard,  but  he  is  entirely 
outside  the  purpose  of  this  book,  and  only  touched 
Scholasticism  to  persecute  and  destroy  the  rational 
element  it  contained.  His  enormous  labours  in  the 
cause  of  the  Crusades,  in  establishing  monasteries,  in 
settling  matters  in  dispute  between  Kings  and  Popes, 
in  preaching  an  ascetic  and  rigidly  ceremonial  Chris- 
tianity, obscure  a  more  real  and  noble  service  he  did 
for  the  Church  by  his  treatises  on  practical  religion, 
and  his  hymns  thrilling  with  a  tender  and  beautiful 
devotion.  In  these  productions  he  taught  a  pronounced 
Mysticism  ;  not  the  extravagant  and  pantheistic  form 
of  it  of  Eckart,  nor  the  rapturous  extremes  of  St. 
Teresa  or  Suso,  but  that  Mysticism  which  opens  the 
way.  to  identify  our  thoughts  with  a  revelation  from 
God,  and  by  pious  contemplation  to  transcend  humanity 
'and  anticipate  the  fruition  of  the  heavenly  world.  Such 
teaching  of  Mysticism,  pure  and  simple,  even  though 
devoid  of  the  excesses  into  which  future  Mystics  plunged, 
is  outside  of  the  scope  of  these  pages;  but  Hugo  and 
Richard  of  St.  Victor  allied  their  Mysticism  with  so 
much  of  the  Scholastic  spirit  and  form  as  to  require  a 
brief  notice. 

Hugo,  who  by  reason  of  seniority  first  claims  atten- 
tion, was  born  in  1097  ;  he  was  of  Saxon  parentage, 
and  connected  with  several  noble  families  in  Germany. 
He  was  born  at  Ypres,  but  when  a  boy  was  taken  to 
Halberstadt,   where    his    uncle   was   Archdeacon.      He 


i 


THE  MONKS  Of  ST.  VICTOR.  127 

studied  in  >.he  Abbey  of  Hamersleben,  and  then,  In 
I  1 1  8,  he  entered  the  school  of  St.  Victor  at  Paris.  It 
is  singular  that,  both  in  the  twelfth  and  fourteenth 
.centuries,  the  mystical  element  in  Christian  theology 
arose  chiefly  from  the  Teutonic  nature,  a  fact  which 
indicates  how  national  temperament  may  influence 
modes  and  tendencies  of  thought.  From  his  youth 
Hugo  gave  promise  of  future  eminence ;  he  sought 
after  knowledge  with  unquenchable  ardour ;  he  scarcely 
gave  himself  time  to  eat  or  sleep,  but  stole  for  his 
precious  studies  every  available  moment  both  of  night 
and  day.  He  had  not  been  long  at  St.  Victor  when 
the  prior  of  the  convent  was  murdered,  and  Hugo  was 
elected  to  succeed  him.  He  thus  became  teacher  of 
philosophy  and  theology  at  an  early  age  :  he  devoted 
himself  to  his  work  with  enthusiasm  ;  and  although  he 
died  at  the  early  age  of  forty-four  years,  he  left  behind 
him  several  ponderous  works,  to  which  the  great  School- 
men were  much  indebted. 

Hugo,  by  his  deeply  meditative  spirit  and  his  pro- 
foundly thoughtful  nature,  was  led  to  look  at  many 
subjects  in  a  widely  different  aspect  to  Abelard.  In 
some  of  his  writings  he  is  evidently  controverting  the 
teachings  of  the  great  orator  of  Brittany,  although  he 
never  permits  himself  to  mention  his  name.  The  two 
works  which  most  fully  express  his  views  are  "  De 
Sacramcntis  Fidci "  and  "Eruditio Didascalica"  a  treatise 
.  written  for  the  direction  of  the  monks.  In  these  and 
his  other  works  he  affirmed  the  immediate  consciousness 
of  God  by  man  ;  he  said  that  "  the  uncorrupted  truth 
of  things  cannot  be  discovered  by  reasoning,"  although 
he  firmly  insisted  that  what  knowledge  was  obtained 
by  the  internal  revelation  must  be  in  entire  accordance 
with   the   doctrines   of  the  Church.      He   said,  "  Three 


128        GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

eyes  have  been  given  to  man  :  the  eye  of  sense  for  the 
sensible  objects  lying  without  him  ;  another  eye  by 
which  the  soul  is  enabled  to  know  itself,  and  what  is 
within  itself,  the  eye  of  reason  ;  a  third  eye  within 
itself  to  perceive  God  and  divine  things,  the  eye  of 
contemplation."  "  But  by  reason  of  sin  the  eye  of 
contemplation  is  extinguished,  the  eye  of  reason  obscured. 
Now  as  the  eye  of  contemplation  whereby  man  might 
come  to  the  knowledge  of  God  and  of  divine  things 
no  longer  dwells  in  him,  therefore  faith  must  take  its 
place."  "  Faith  is  called  the  substance  of  things  in- 
visible, because  that  which  as  yet  is  not  an  object  of 
open  vision  is  by  faith  in  a  certain  sense  made  present 
to  the  soul,  actually  dwells  in  it."*  He  urges,  however, 
that  in  faith  there  is  both  an  objective  and  subjective 
element ;  it  cannot  exist  without  knowledge,  although 
it  is  only  a  general  knowledge  of  the  being  of  its  object. 
Having  this  to  build  upon,  faith  rises  to  a  knowledge 
of  the  nature  of  the  object,  which  becomes  increasingly 
perfect  until  it  is  perfected  in  the  heavenly  world. 
Thus,  in  regard  to  divine  doctrine,  the  understanding  of 
it  proceeds  from  faith,  faith  bases  itself  on  the  know- 
ledge of  the  fact  of  the  Divine  Existence,  and  then  by 
its  own  innate  power  rises  to  its  final  blessedness,  the 
perfect  understanding  of  eternal  life.  The  practical 
effect  of  this  theory  is  undoubtedly  to  lead  the  soul  in 
pursuit  of  a  more  perfect  intuition  of  God,  as  this  is 
necessarily  the  ultimate  end  of  faith,  the  only  crown 
after  which  it  strives.  Hugo  guarded  himself  against 
the  extravagant  conclusions  drawn  by  later  Mystics 
from  his  premises,  as  he  taught  that  the  revelations  of 
the  Divine  to  the  individual  mind  could  or  should 
never  transcend  the  authorized  teachings  of  the  Church. 
'  Neander,  viii.,  149. 


THE  MONKS  OF  3T.    I'rCTOh-  129 

It  is  easy  to  5-oc  how  iliofjical  such  a  position  \\\i^,  hnd 
how  soon  hiy  successors  would  be  likely  to  overleap 
the  bounds  he  h.id  constructed  to  prer.crve  himself  and 
them  from  the  extreme  vagaries  to  which  his  principles 
palpably  led. 

Hugo  strongly  opposed  the  optimism  advocated  by 
Ab^lard,  that  in  creation  God  could  not  have  done 
other  nor  better  than  He  did.  He  considered  .such 
a  view  as  being  really  blasphemous,  as  it  sought  to 
place  bounds  to  the  IJivine  Omnipotence,  and  in  writ- 
ing of  God's  relation  to  existence,  he  seems  to  have 
b^en  a  thorough  Realist,  saying  that  all  things  whirii 
were  created  by  God  in  time  existed  uncreated  in  Hmi 
from  all  eternity,  and  that  because  they  e listed  in  Him 
they  were  known  to  Him  in  the  very  manner  in  which 
they  existed  in  Him.  He  also  opposed  Anselm's  view 
of  the  Holy  Trinity,  which,  as  previously  stated,  differed 
but  little  from  Sabellianism,  but  wisely  kept  himself 
free  from  any  charge  of  heresy,  by  avoiding  dogmatic 
hardness  or  precise  terminology  in  writing  upon  it, 
finding  illustrations  of  it  in  nature  and  in  humanity, 
rather  than  arguing  of 'it  in  Scholastic  method.  He 
seems,  however,  to  have  adopted  the  false  and  fanciful 
division  of  the  Godhead  by  the  Scholastics  into  the 
Father  as  Power,  the  Son  as  Wisdom,  and  the  Holy 
Ghost  as  Love,  and  in  a  strain  unlike,  to  his  usual 
style  ho  tries  to  account  for  this  distribution,  clearly 
advocating,  however,  that  each  of  these  attributes  must 
V)c  predicated  equally  and  etern.ill}'  of  all  the  Persons 
in  the  Trinity/  Concerning  the  nature  of  man  primeval, 
he  said  he  had  power  both  to  sin  and  not  to  sin  ;  but 
the  disposition  to  good  was  stronger  than  the  tendency 
to  evil.  But  when  man  sinned  he  abandoned  the  right 
'  Hagenbacb,  "  History  of  Doct.,"  i.,  515. 

9 


I30        GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

propensity  of  his  nature,  and  strove  in  pride  and  pre- 
sumption to  be  equal  with  God,  and  to  possess  the 
perfect  knowledge  of  Him  before  the  appointed  time. 
From  this  view  it  would  result  that  sin  simply  consists 
in  not  setting  a  proper  bound  to  our  various  desires  or 
appetites.  The  first  sin,  he  said,  consisted  in  Adam 
ceasing  to  desire  the  good. 

In  treating  of  the  Atonement,  Hugo  adopted  a  some- 
what  eclectic   view.     He   believed   with  Anselm    that 
in  order  to  exalt  the  Divine  honour  which  had  been 
defied  by  sin  God  became  incarnate  ;  that  by  submis- 
sion   to    the   penalty   of  sin — viz.,   death — He   might 
render  satisfaction    to   His  offended  justice,  and    thus 
present   a   foundation    on   which   He  could    save  man 
in    accordance    with    His    infinite    holiness.      But    he 
also  taught  that  it  was  needful  in  the  Atonement  to 
conciliate  the  devil,   and   thus  revived    the  antiquated 
notion  which  Anselm  had  sought  to  discredit.     And 
as  though  he  were  anxious  to  associate  in  the  spirit 
of  eclecticism    all  the  various  theories  current  on   the 
subject,  he  also  urged  the  view  of  Abelard,  that  the 
essential  element  in  the  Atonement  was  the  full  and 
free  grace  of  the  Almighty,  which  took  this  method 
of  begetting  love  in  the  hearts  of  His  sinful  creatures, 
and  of  leading  them  to  receive  His  forgiving  mercy. 

Hugo  sought  to  infuse  into  the  doctrine  of  the 
Sacraments  a  more  spiritual  meaning.  He  professed 
himself  dissatisfied  with  the  view  of  Augustine,  that 
they  were  signs  of  sacred  things,  and  said  that  it 
was  a  merely  verbal  definition.  Letters,  pictures,  and 
many  things  might  be  called  signs  of  sacred  things, 
and  he  defined  a  sacrament  to  be  a  visible  sign  of 
an  invisible  grace  inwardly  received.  He  divided 
sacraments    into    three   orders :    {a)    those    on    which 


TRE  ATONKS  OF  ST.    VICTOR. 


131 


salvation  is  founded,  and  by  the  enjoyment  of  which 
the  highest  blessings  are  imparted,  in  which  division 
he  included  baptism,  the  Lord's  supper,  and  confir- 
mation ;  {b)  Ihose  which  encourag^e  a  holy  Christian 
lifo,  although  not  positively  essential  to  salvation,  as 
the  use  of  holy  water,  fasting,  etc.  ;  [c)  those  which 
j»repare  for  other  sacraments,  as  holy  orders,  consccra- 
t.;on,  and  others.  He  reckoned,  however,  that  baptism 
and  the  Lord's  Supper  were  pre-eminently  important, 
•rind  occupied  a  place  of  higher  significance  than  the 
others. 

The   whole  spirit   of  Hugo's   writings  testifies   thai 
his    nature  refused   to   be   content  with  that   mediate 
and  partial   apprehension  of  the  Divine  Nature  which 
is   the   measure   of    knowledge   permitted   within    that 
awful    realm    to    man    upon    earth.      He    yearned    to 
rise  higher  than  the  limitations  of  the  human  consti- 
tution  allowed,   and    insisted   that  by  an   eye   of  the 
soul    man    rose    to    a    direct    intuition    of   the   Deity, 
He    was    a    man    of    immense    erudition,    of    deeply 
devotional    spirit,    and    he    prepared    the    way    for    a 
more    tender   and    living    view    of   God    and    His   in- 
dwelling  in    tlie   human    soul.     He   gave   more   clear 
expression  to  a  tendency  of  the  Christian  conscious- 
ness than  it  had   had   before,  and   which  reproduced 
itself  more  definitely  still  in  the  Mystics  of  the  four- 
teenth  and    the   Moravian  teachers  in  tlie  <;ighteen{h 
centuries.      He  united  in  \\:.\y  harmonious  degree  the 
Mystic  and  the  Scholastic,  he  was  contemplative  and 
dialectic,  and  whilst  his  Scholasticism  saved  him  from, 
being  carried   into  the  vagueness  and  v.igariei;  of  later 
Mystics,  his   devout   and    tender  Mysticism    redeemed 
his   dialectic  method   from    much  of  the  rigidity  and 
hardness  of  the  later  Schoolmen, 


132        GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

RlCHM^D  St.  Victor  was  a  Scotchman,  who,  like 
many  others,  was  dtawn  from  his  northern  land  to 
the  brilliant  centre  of  learning,  united  himself  with 
the  establishment  of  St,  Victor,  became  a  friend  and 
student  of  Hugo,  rose  to  be  Prior  of  the  monastery, 
and  died  1173.  He  adopted  and  professed  the 
views  of  his  master  on  most  points  in  theology,  but 
he  carried  to  a  further  extent  the  tendencies  of  Hugo 
to  Mysticism,  and  professed  a  strong  dislike  to  certain 
teachers  of  the  age,  evidently  pointing  to  Ab^laid,  who 
sought  after  new  inventions  for  the  sake  of  gaining 
popularity  or  notoriety.  He  said  there  were  three 
stages  of  Keligious  Development:  that  by  which  man 
rises  to  know  God  by  faith,  that  by  which  he  can 
know  Him  by  reason,  and  that  by  which  He  is  known 
by  contemplation.  To  this  last  no  one  may  rise  save 
by  the  spirit  rising  in  blissful  ecstacy  above  itself  It 
is  an  enjoyment  above  that  given  by  either  faith  or 
reason.  The  reason  falls  back  into  retirement  when 
the  spirit  beholds  direct  unfoldings  of  the  Godhead, 
or  receives  bles.sed  inspiration  from  Him.  Such  a  lofty 
privilege  is  bestowed  directly  by  God,  but  only  on  those 
who  seek  it  by  intense  and  passionate  yearnings.  In 
moments  when  the  excessive  rapture  has  passed  by, 
and  quiet  thoughtfulness  supervenes,  a  man  may  repro- 
duce the  revelations  which  have  been  made  and  tone 
them  to  the  common  under.standings  of  men.  Thus 
it  will  be  seen  that  whilst  the  pseudo  Dionysius,  and  his 
disciple  Erigena,  laid  the  foundation  of  Mysticism  in 
their  theosophies,  later  followers  excluded  from  their 
systems  those  inteiniediate  orders  of  Divine  or  spiritual 
bf,ings  by  which  the  human  spirit  was  to  mount  by 
degrees  to  a  knowledge  of  the  Eternal,  but  pressing 
directly  to    the    door    of   the   Holy  of  Holies,  strove 


THE  MONKS  OF  ST.    VICTOR.  133 

tor  entrance,  that  it  might  enter  on  the  direct  enjoy- 
ment of  the  Godhead  Himself.  It  was  not  sioiply 
a  knowledge  of  G<xJ  which  Richard  taught  as  being 
enjo>'ed  by  the  entranced  spirit,  but  a  real  participa- 
tion in  the  Nature  of  the  Godhead.  At  the  same  time, 
in  order  to  guard  himself  against  various  enors,  he 
sought  to  introduce  distinctions  into  the  Divine  Being, 
which  are  ingenious  if  not  convindng.  He  affiitns  that 
the  attributes  of  God  arc  His  Substance,  that  His 
power,  wisdom,  eternity,  arid  olher  qualities  constitute 
His  Being — His  very  Self,  which  is  not  in  any  sense 
communicable.  How,  then,  can  God  he  commurnatcd 
to  the  spirit,  enraptured  and  entranced  in  the  act  of 
contemplation  ?  In  answer  to  this  he  says  that  there  is 
an  individual  substantiality  and  a  general  substantiality. 
The  first  belongs  to  One  alone,  and  can  never  be  com- 
municated to  His  creatures;  it  includes  that  single, 
simple  substantiality  which  is  the  Essential  Deity,  But 
through  thf^  Tiinity  God  has  in  Himself  a  Pleroraa,  a 
Fulness,  which  He  can  inipart  or  communicate  to  the 
ecstatic  soul  without  giving  up  Himself.  The  incom- 
municable element  in  God  is  the  highest  element,  and 
constitutes  God's  uniqueness  and  individuality.  But 
to  the  ravishing  and  overpowering  love  of  the  con- 
templative soul  the  Fulness  is  opened,  it  enters  in, 
it  attains  the  perfectness  of  nature,  it  passes  through 
a  mystical  transubstantiation,  it  is  swallov^ed  up  by  ex- 
cessive, ecstatic  intoxication  of  the  enjoyment  of  God. 

The  act  of  contemplation  Richard  divided  into  six 
stages — those  of  imagination,  reason,  and  intelligence  , 
each  being  divided  into  two.'  By  these  men  may  rise 
to  the  highest  and  ripest  enjoyment  of  God,  although  it 
is  not  given  to  all,  even  of  the  good,  to  reach  the  crown 
'  Note  A. 


134         GREAT  SCHOOLMEN'  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

of  such  blessedness.  In  such  as  do  arrive  at  the  perfect 
bliss  the  spirit  is  joined  to  the  Deity,  transcending 
itself  and  becoming  one  with  Him  ;  all  within  and 
without  is  forgotten  until  the  rapture  is  past  ;  the  glory 
fades  into  the  light  of  common  day,  leaving  but  the 
memory  of  its  rich  and  unutterable  happiness. 

Richard  combined  with  his  Mystic  temperament  an 
energetic  nature  and  a  stalwart  love  of  righteousness, 
which  made  him  a  reformer  as  much  as  a  philosopher. 
He  protested  vigorously  against  the  corruption,  the 
avarice,  and  worldliness  of  men  who  professed  to  be 
wedded  to  a  sacred  profession,  and  who  ought  to  be 
cnsamples  to  the  flock.  He  entered  the  lists  even 
against  his  Superior  at  St  Victor,  when  he  permitted 
and  encouraged  evil  ways  in  the  monastery  ;  and  he 
had  the  satisfaction  of  aiding  in  restoring  its  reputation 
for  a  high  sanctit}'.  He  exaggerated  the  qualities  of 
Hugo  both  as  a  Mystic  and  a  Scholastic.  He  carried 
his  Mysticism  into  extremes,  from  which  Hugo  shrank  ; 
and  he  indulged  in  an  elaborate  dialccticism  which 
Hugo  would  have  mourned  over^  but  he  preserved  a 
life  as  pure,  and  a  devoutness  as  commendable,  as  his 
great  predecessor.  They  were  both  men  who  would 
have  adorned  any  Church  and  any  age, 

Of  similar  spirit  to  Hugo  and  Richard  was  Walter, 
a  Canon  and  Prior  of  St.  Victor,  and  sometimes  called 
Walter  of  Mauretania,  in  Flanders,  who  wrote  with 
great  severity  against  Ab61ard,  and  who  called  him, 
with  Peter  Lombard,  and  Gilbert,  and  Peter  of  Poictiers, 
"  the  four  labyrinths  of  France  ;  "  protesting  against 
the  devotion  they  manifested  to  the  method  and  teach- 
ing of  Aristotle,  and  charging  them  with  teaching  in 
a  spirit  of  levity  the  great  doctrines  of  the  Trinity  and 
the  Incarnation. 


THE  MONKS  OF  ST.   VICTOR.  135 

If  entire  approbation  cannot  be  entertained  for  the 
opinions  of  the  leading  monks  of  St.  Victor,  especially 
as  they  were  carried  to  their  legitimate  issues  by  their 
later  followers,  the  influence  they  exerted  on  the  morals 
of  the  clergy,  and  the  piety  of  the  age,  must  be  regarded 
with  entire  satisfaction.      Such  an  influence  was  loudly 
called  for  as  a  counter-charm  against  the  vices  prac- 
tised by  many  members  of  the  religious  orders,  and  the 
mere  perfunctorincss  of  others.      Even  many  teachers 
devoted   to  the  training  of  students  led   lives  entirely 
unworthy  of  the  faith  they  professed  and  the  functions 
they  fulfilled.     The  Victorines  were  men  of  blameless 
life,  of  high   spirituality,  of  heavenly   yearnings  ;  and 
Peter  Cantor,  a  successor  to  Hugo  and  Richard  in  the 
Abbey,  and  afterwards  Bishop  of  Tournay,  vigorously 
fought   against   the   deadening  tendencies   of  the  age, 
and  sought  to  baptize  both   Church  life  and  theological 
studies   with  a  new  spirituality  ;   and    thus   the    whole 
circle  of  the  Victorines  for  a  long  period  seems  to  have 
been  used  by  Divine  Providence  as  a  means  to  correct 
the  too  bold  and  exclusive  dialecticism  of  the  day,  and 
the  irreligion  which  affected  so  injuriously  both  Church 
life  and  Church  teachers. 


Note  A. 
"1  he  six  degrees  of  contemplation  are  as  follows  ('De  Contemp. 

L,  6,  fol.  45):  — 

"  I.  In  imaginatione  secundum  solam  imayinationeni. 

"2.   la  imaginatione  secundum  rationem. 

"3.  In  ratione  secundum  imaginationem. 

"4.   In  mtione  secundum  rationem. 

"  5.  Supra  rationem  sed  non  praeter  rationem. 

"6.  Supra  rationem  videtur  esse  praeter  rationem. 

"  The  office  of  imagination  to  which  the  first  two  belong,'  is  th'n<ght 
(cogitatio)  ;  the  oHice  of  reason,  investigation  (meditatio)  ;  that  ot 


136         CRiiAT  rCHOOLME.V  OF   THE  MJDxJ.E  AGES. 

inieir.scnce,  con.cmplation  (coniemplatio).-  /«>*V/.,  cap.  3.  These 
tha.e  staics  are  distinguished  with  muv.h  care;  and  his  definition 
of  the  last  1^  <•.=.  follows  :~Contempliiti^.  est  perspicax  et  liber 
animi  contiiitUi  in  res  perspiciendas  I'ndeqaaque  diflusus. — Ibid., 
cap.  4.  He  draws  the  distinction  between  inteliigibilia  ar.d  irucl- 
leclibilia  ii«  cap,  7.  The  former -invij.ibIHi  rutione  tamen  coni- 
pn  iicnsibiila  ;  the  latter— inviiibilia  ct  humcuA.-^e  rationi  incompre- 
hensibiha.  Ti»e  four  lov/ei  kinds  are  principally  occupied,  he 
adds,  svilh  cieateJ  objects  ;  the  two  last  wth  what  is  uncreated 
and  divine." — yau^/utn,  "  Hours  with  the  Mystics,"  i.,  162. 

Note  B. 

Of  similai  spirit  to  the  Victorines  was  Robert  Puh,  or  PuUein,  a 
distin^-ul^hfd  doctor  of  Oxford,  and  creai-d  a  cardinal  in  1144. 
Ho  puUiihed  .1  book  called  "  I.iliri  Sentenii,-ifu;Ti,"  whtcb  professed 
to  base  every  diilectic  process  upon  the  Bible  and  the  writbigs  of 
the  curly  fathers  of  the  Church.  This  book  became  a  suggestion, 
or  a  model,  for  a  work,  the  "Book  oi  Sentences"  of  Peter  Lombard, 
w'iich  superseded  its  forerunner,  and  became  a  most  important 
factor  in  the  Sehulastieism  of  the  succeeding  centuiy.  Pullein  also 
wrote  a  treatise  on  the  Apocalypse,  and  twenty  of  his  sexmoni  are 
preserved  in  the  Lan^beth  collection. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  MASTER  OF   THE  SENTEhXLS.-PETER    THE 
LOMBARD. 


"Once  in  a  golden  hour 
I  cast  to  earth  a  seed  ; 
Up  there  came  a  flower, 
The  people  said  a  weed. 

' '  To  and  fro  thejr  went 

Throutjh  my  garden  bower. 
And  muttering  discontent, 
Cursed  me  and  my  flower. 

"  Tlien  it  grew  so  tall, 

It  wore  a  crown  of  light, 

But  thieves  from  o'er  the  wall 

Stole  the  seed  by  night. 

"  Sowed  it  far  and  wide, 

By  every  town  arwl  tower, 
Till  all  the  people  cried, 
'  Splendid  is  the  flower  !  * 

"  Read  my  little  fable. 

He  that  runs  may  read. 
Most  can  raise  the  flower  now, 
For  all  have  got  the  seed. 

"And  some  are  pretty  enough, 
And  some  are  poor  indeed. 
And  now  again  the  people 
Call  it  but  a  weed." 

— ^Tennyson. 


VIII. 
PETER  THE  LOMBARD. 

Two  opposing  streams  of  influence,  which  had  their 
rise  in  the  various  philosophies  and  historic  develop- 
ments of  the  preceding  ages,  began  in  the  twelfth 
century  to  flow,  each  with  gathering  strength  and 
volume,  and  were  shortly  to  come  into  violent  collision. 
One  came  sweeping  with  the  wave-liko  flood  of  eccle- 
siastical authority,  and  claimed  to  carr>^  with  it  the 
supreme  control  of  all  matters  of  human  opinion  ;  the 
other  rushed  on  in  the  wild  and  daring  demand  that 
human  reason  should  be  the  arbitrating  power  to  deter- 
mine matters  of  human  belief 

A  man  arose  in  the  midst  of  the  intellectual  activity 
of  the  twelfth  century  who,  without  being  distinguished 
by  an  exalted  genius,  was  able  by  his  learning,  his 
calm  dignity  of  mind,  his  correct  judgment  and  force 
of  style,  to  gather  into  convenient  form  the  results  of 
previous  discussions  in  theology  and  philosophy ;  to 
give  decided  impulse  to  the  tendency  of  the  age  for 
mtellectual  exercise,  and  yet  to  impose  some  restraint 
on  tlie  bold  and  rebellious  spirit  which  would  have 
overleapt  traditional  and  ecclesiastical  barriers,  have 
implicated  a  revolution  of  public  opinion  before  the 
due  time,  and  have  prevented  by  possibility  human 
progress  for  generations. 


140         GKEA  T  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

This  was  Peter,  born  near  Novara,  in  Lombardy, 
probably  in  the  early  part  of  the  twelfth  century.  He 
was  drawn  from  his  Italian  birthplace  to  Paris  by  that 
warm  glow  of  learning  which  seemed  to  have  irresist- 
ible attraction  for  all  the  ardent  and  eager  souls  of 
that  age.  He  studied  with  such  devoted ness  in  the 
university  as  to  win  the  commendation  of  Bernard, 
which  is  not  onlj'-  a  guarantee  of  his  studiouaness,  but 
also  of  his  attention  to  spiritual  exercises.  He  at- 
tended the  lectures  of  Abelard,  at  St.  Genevieve  ;  but 
whilst  fired  with  enthusiasm  by  his  kindling  eloquence. 
Peter  was  not  disposed  to  be  carried  from  orthodox 
standards  of  doctrine  by  his  brilliant  teacher.  He 
was  made  Bishop  of  Paris  in  I  159,  but  was  only  per- 
mitted to  wear  his  honours  a  brief  period,  as  he  died 
in  1 164,  It  maybe  doubted  whether  his  promotion 
to  a  bishopric  did  not  rather  lessen  than  increase  his 
influence  as  a  teacher  ;  for  then,  as  now,  such  a  posi- 
tion often  was  injurious  to  the  work  of  a  man  of 
commanding  geniu-i  and  learning.  Peter's  title  to  fame 
rests  solely  on  one  book,  iiamed  on  a  pattern  followed 
by  others  both  before  and  after  him,  and  originally 
adopted  by  John  Damascenus.  The  materials  for  a 
life  of  Peter  are  of  the  poorest ;  the  very  year  of  his 
birth  has  not  been  preserved  ;  no  achievements  and 
adventures  are  recorded  which  give  variety  and  bright- 
ness to  his  career.  The  one  great  book  he  wrote  is 
his  life  and  epitaph.  No  doubt  he  ha'd  a  busy  life, 
and  was  much  honoured  in  his  day  ;  other  books  came 
from  his  pen,  but  his  claim  to  a  place  in  history,  and 
the  justification  of  the  place  assigned  to  him,  rest  on 
the  one  book  which  has  made  his  name  famous  in  the 
first  rank  of  the  Schoolmen.  1  his  book  was  the 
'*  Ountuur    libri  sententiarum,"    -.vhicb    consisted    of   a 


PETER  THE  LOMBARD.  141 

comprehensive  and   elaborate  compilation   of  passages 
from    the  ancient  Fathers    of   the    Church,   especially 
Ambrose,  Hilary,  Augustine,  Cassiodonis,  and  Remigius, 
Peter  suppressed  their  names,  and   added  only  so  much 
of  his  own  composition  as  gave  an  appearance  of  com- 
pleteness  and   system   to  the  whole.     It  was   divided 
into  four  parts,  and   these  again   into  numerous  "-dis- 
tinctions"      In    the    first   book   he  has    forty-eight    of 
these    distinctions   dealing    with    the    mystery   of   the 
Holy  Trinity  ;  the  offices  and  relations  of  the  Divine 
Persons,  the  Divine  Essence  and  Attributes  ;  the  Divine 
Foreknowledge  and  Freedom.     In  the  second  book  he 
has  forty-four  distinctions,  treating  of  the  Angels,  their 
capacities,  qualities,  and  functions  ;  their  relation  to  the 
demons,  with  many  curious  questions  as  to  the  possi- 
bility   of  their    falling,    etc.      He    treits   also    of    the 
creation  of  man  and  woman,  of  the  nature  of  man,  of 
original  sin,  and  of  many  curious,  if  not  absurd,  matters, 
as  to  the  nature,  the  modes,  and  the  penalties  of  sin. 
In   the  third    book    he   makes  forty    distinctions,  and 
enlarges  in  them  on  the  Incarnation  of  the  Word,  with 
numerous  considerations  as  to  the  method  of  the  Incarna- 
tion, the  relation  of  the  P'ather  and  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
thereto,  together  with  the  bearings  of  the  Incarnation 
upon  the  Divine  Nature,  on  the  Devil,  and   on   man,  to 
whom  it  is  the  means  of  redemption.     He  descends  to 
many  trivial   questions  ;  as,  whether   Christ  had   faith, 
hope,  and  charity  ;  whether  in   death   the  soul  and   th-- 
flesh  were  separated  in   Christ  from   the  Word,  and   so 
on.     He  then   deals   with    many  questions  relating  lo 
Christian   virtues  and  graces.      In   the  fouith  book  he 
draws   fifty   elaborate  di.sLinctions,  and    dcnls    at  great 
length  with    many  of  the   .suhjeots.      There   is,  indeed, 
more    opportunity    afforded   for  lengthy    trcHtif^eiit   of 


142         GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

these  than  of  some  of  the  hard  and  mysterious  matters 
previously  dealt  with.  He  enters  into  the  subject  of 
the  Sacraments,  which  he  treats  after  the  usual  fashion 
of  mediaeval  writers  ;  and  then  goes  on  to  treat  of 
Church  ordinances  and  offices.  From  these  he  pro- 
ceeds to  deal  with  matrimony  and  adultery,  with  the 
usual  pruriency  of  Romish  writers  ;  and  then  ends  with 
the  great  topics  of  the  Resurrection,  the  Last  Judgment, 
and  the  Future  State. 

The  order  and  clearness  of  the  book,  its  oracular 
character,  and  the  skilful  manner  in  which  it  concen- 
trated the  results  of  the  Church's  previous  thinking, 
made  it  peculiarly  acceptable  in  an  age  which  was 
driven  and  tossed  by  the  winds  of  many  controversies, 
and  which  yearned  for  a  safe  harbour  of  refuge  in 
matters  of  faith.  The  book  was  taken  as  a  model  by 
innumerable  imitators  ;  it  was  made  a  text-book  in  the 
universities  ;  lectures  were  given  upon  it  by  nearly  all 
Church  teachers  ;  and  in  some  of  the  universities  a 
special  chair  was  devoted  to  its  exposition.  Other 
books  written  by  the  Lombard,  long  "  Commentaries 
on  the  Psalms  and  Epistles,"  are  forgotten  ;  but  the 
"  Sentences  "  mark  an  era  in  human  thought,  and,  as 
has  been  said,  Peter's  place  on  the  "  bead-roll "  of 
time  is  due  to  this  book  alone. 

The  "  Book  of  Sentences "  was  distinguished  by  a 
close  and  rigid  adherence  to  the  letter  of  Scripture  and 
the  interpretation  put  upon  Scripture  by  the  Church, 
in  its  creeds  and  authorised  commentators.  He  gave 
great,  indeed  supreme,  prominence  throughout  his  work 
to  the  ethical  principle,  and  thus  the  moral  tone  is 
admirable.  He  was  a  severe  sacramentarian  ;  but  he 
swerved  from  a  rigid  sacerdotalism  in  treating  of  "  the 
power  of  the  keys,"  which  he  held  consisted   only  in 


PETER   THE  LOMBARD.  143 

showing  how  the  souls  of  men  were  to  be  bound  and 
loosed.  He  delighted  in  using  all  the  dry  and  technical 
methods  which  give  so  much  aridness  to  the  treatises 
of  Scholasticism  ;  but  this  was  not  wholly  a  drawback 
in  that  age  when  the  unsettled  notions  and  the  diffuse 
style  of  thinking  then  existing  are  considered. 

The  book  was  a  contribution  to  human  thought  on 
the  side  of  Realism.  In  the  outset  of  his  work,  Peter 
attempts  to  draw  a  clear  distinction  between  sigfis  and 
thuigs.  The  latter,  he  says,  are  eternal  realities  ;  and 
the  former  the  tokens  by  which  they  make  themselves 
known  to  the  outward  world.  Things  he  divides  into 
three  classes  :  those  which  are  to  be  enjoyed  ;  those 
which  are  to  be  used  ;  and  those  which  themselves 
both  use  and  enjoy.  The  first  he  says  are  the  Persons 
of  the  Holy  Trinity,  by  the  enjoyment  of  whom  we 
attain  the  highest  blessedness  ;  the  second  are  those 
agencies  which  help  us  to  rise  to  the  enjoyment  of  this 
blessedness  ;  and  those  which  have  the  power  both  to 
use  and  enjoy  are  ourselves,  who  with  saints  and  angels 
are  placed  between  the  two  former  classes  to  use  the 
one,  and  to  enjoy  the  other.' 

His  views  on  the  Trinity,  which  assumed  an  impor- 
tant place  in  current  controversies,  seemed  to  assimilate 
to  those  of  Augustine  and  Anselm,  in  advocating  three 
relations  in  the  Godhead  rather  than  three  Persons.^ 
But  although,  by  a  literal  and  severe  criticism,  this 
interpretation  may  be  placed  on  the  writings  of  these 
great  teachers,  it  is  evident  they  did  not  recognize  the 
real  bearing  of  their  modes  of  expression  and  illus- 
tration on  this  important  subject,  and  doubtless  they 
held  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  as  defined  in  the 
authorised  creeds  and  adopted  by  those  Churches 
^  Note  A.  '  "  Lib.  Sent.,"  i.  5. 


144         I- REAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGP.S. 

deemed  orthodox.  Peter's  view  of  this  doctrine  was 
opposed  by  Joachim,  the  Abbot  of  Flore,  who  taxed 
him  with  teaching  that  the  Persons  of  the  Holy  Trinity 
bein^f  above  all  thini^s,  neither  generated,  nor  were 
generated,  nor  proceeded.  But  in  this  case,  as  it  is 
often  in  controversy,  Joachim  misunderstood  Peter, 
who  in  using  such  words  was  urging  the  important 
distinction  between  the  Supreme  God  as  such,  and 
God  the  F'athcr  as  one  of  the  Persons  in  the  Godhead. 
Peter's  words  arc  these  : — "  It  is  not  written  that  the 
Divine  Essence  generated  the  Son,  because  with  the 
Son  is  the  Divine  Essence,  and  the  Son  already  existed 
in  the  Thing  by  which  He  was  generated  ;  and  so  the 
same  thing  must  himself  have  generated  himself,  which 
is  evidently  impossible  But  the  Father  only  generates 
the  Son  ;  and  from  the  Father  and  the  Son  proceeds 
the  Holy  Spirit." 

On  the  subject  of  the  Incarnation  Peter  broached 
opinions  which  subjected  him  to  subsequent  charges  of 
heresy,  and  to  ecclesiastical  censure.  The  Christian 
Church  had  been  for  jTenerations  distracted  by  the 
dreary  controversies  of  the  Monothelites  and  the 
Monophysites  ;'  and  although  they  had  been  formally 
closed  by  the  adoption  of  the  Catholic  doctrine,  that 
in  Christ  "  two  natures  and  two  wills  \vere  united  in 
one  and  the  same  per.son,"  it  .still  was  evident  that  no 
definite  and  thomugh  understanding  existed  among 
great  Church  teachers  on  the  subject.  Therefore,  even 
in  the  precise  and  dogmatic  style  of  Peter,  this  doc- 
trine was  treated  m  so  vacillating  a  manner  as  to 
expose  him  to  misunderstanding.  He  attempted  to 
discu.ss  the  questions  "  Whether  a  person,  or  a  nature, 
assumed  humanity  ?  "  and  "  Whether  tlie  Nature  of 
'  Note  E. 


PllTER  THE  LOMBARD.  143 

God  wa-s  incarnated  ?  "  In  answerinc^  the  first  question 
he  virtually  conceded  that  both  alternuiivcs  were  true, 
and  also  affirmed  that  the  Divine  Nature  might  truly 
be  said  to  be  incarnated.  Ho  furthennorc  art:,'ued  on 
the  ground  of  the  immutability  of  the  Divine  Nature 
that  the  Son  did  not  become  anything,  by  the  assump- 
tion of  our  nature.  These  viovas  exposed  him  to  much 
opposition  ;  an  order  was  issued  by  Pope  Alexander  III. 
to  the  Synod  of  Tours,  in  1 163,  to  examine  the  phrase, 
'~  Dcus  non  f actus  est  aliquiiV,*  and  after  due  discussion 
the  Assembly  pronotinced  iL  heretical. 

In  1 175,  John  of  C(,.rn\vall  wrote  against  the  teach- 
ing of  Peter  on  the  Person  of  Christ  ;  arguing  that  in 
the  Bible  Christ  i-i  described  as  a  man,  and  hence  that 
He  existed  along  with  other  beings  of  like  nature 
which  took  their  rise  in  time.  Thus  he  urged 
God  did  really  become  something,  and  to  believe 
otherwise  would  lead  to  D9ketism.  This  writer  was 
far  from  clear  as  to  his  <jwn  views  ;  for  while  arguing 
that  God  became  man,  he  insisted  that  we  are  only  to 
conclude  that  the  Divine  Peysonality,  without  the  Divine 
Nature,  became  man  ;  and  that  the  human  nature 
became  Divine  Personality,  but  wot  Deity  or  the 
Divine-  Nature.  In  .such  useless  ^nd  bewildering  mazes 
did  some  wi  iters  of  that  age  wandnr,  and  lose  b.'>th 
Ihcrnselves  and  their  readers.  Then  ibi lowed  Walter 
of  St.  Victor,  who  charged  Peter  with  the  heresy  of 
Nihilianlsm,  as  thouLrh  he  had  taught  that  Christ  had 
become  Noth.ing.  Ihis  charge  was  unjust,  although  in 
appearance  some  grounil  for  it  existed  in  the  form  of 
expression  used  by  IV^ter,  who,  howevci,  only  sought  to 
deny  the  existence  of  Christ  in  a  certain  individual  form, 
and  not  to  deny  to  Him  real  existence  in  human  nature.' 

'  Note  C. 

10 


146         GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

On  thp  subject  of  the  Atonement,  Peter  combined 
somewhat  the  views  of  the  older  Church  Fathers  with 
the   moral   view   advocated  by  Abelard.     He,   indeed, 
beheved,  with  Anselm,  in  the  doctrine  of  a  substitution- 
ary sacrifice,  and  he  also  gave  the  devil  some  place  in 
the  transaction;  but  he  dwelt  mainly  on  the  Atonement 
as  a  revelation  of  the  eternal  love  of  God,  whereby  the 
heart  of  man  was  to  be  won  to  love  and  holiness.     He 
also  united  with  Anselm  in  urging  the  doctrine  of  pre- 
destination as  taught  by  Augustine  ;  but  he  interposed 
many  limitations,  in  applying  the  doctrine  to  human 
salvation.      In  his  teaching  concerning  the  operation  of 
Divine    Grace,    and    the    appropriation    of   it    by   the 
believer,  he  followed  in  general  the  lead  of  the  same 
great  teachers.     He  exercised  an  important  influence 
on  the  Church's  belief  and  on  future  controversies   by 
the  views    he  inculcated    as   to    the    significance   and 
the    number  of  the  Sacraments,     Augustine    had  de- 
fined   a    Sacrament   to  be    a   visible  sign    of  an    in- 
visible grace  ;  invisibilis  graticB   visihile    signum    had 
been   the   usual   definition  ;    and   Augustine    also   had 
said,  SacramenUih:  est^  sacra>  ret  signum.      This  simple 
definition  did  not  accord  with  the  elaborate  system  of 
dogma  now  working  its  way  in  the  Church  ;  it  neither 
satisfied  the  mystical  yearnings  of  the  Victorines,  nor  the 
dialectical  temper  of  Scholastici.sm.     Peter  interpreted 
exactly  the  prevailing  spirit,  and  taught  that  a  sacra- 
ment was   a  sign  of  a  sacred  thing  involving  sacred 
mystery ;  tliat  it  was  a  holy  seal  which  must  never  be 
separated    from    the    grace   it   signifies  ;    that    it   was, 
indeed,  an  invisible  grace  taking  a  visible  and  outward 
form.     Then  as  to  the  number  of  the  Sacraments,  the 
writers    of   the    Church    had    been    strangely   divided. 
Rabanus    Maurus  and    Paschasius    Radbertus   insisted 


PETER   THE  LOMBARD.  147 

only  on  two;  and  when  dividing  the  sacraments  o{ 
baptism  and  the  Eucharist  into  two  each,  they  spoke  at 
the  most  of  four.  Victor  said  there  were  three,  but 
Peter  Damiani  spoke  of  twelve.  Peter  jjave  decided 
testimony,  which  largely  moulded  the  doctrine  of  the 
Church  for  ages  in  favour  of  seven — viz.,  Baptism, 
Confirmation,  the  Eucharist,  Penance,  Extreme  Unction, 
Matrimony,  and  Holy  Orders.  These  were  adopted  as 
sacraments  by  the  great  Schoolmen  generally.  Eona- 
ventura,  Aquinas,  and  others  sustained  them  by  many 
ingenious  arguments,  especially  the  former,  who  by  a 
not  very  convincing  logic  founded  arguments  on  such 
analogies  as  the  seven  deadly  diseases  in  man,  and  the 
seven  cardinal  virtues.  Peter  seems  to  have  been 
somewhat  undecided  on  the  subject  of  the  Real 
Presence  in  the  elements  of  the  Eucharist.  He  gives 
several  opinions,  which  were  held  by  prominent  autho- 
rities, but  shuns  a  definite  statement  of  his  own  view. 
He  would  seem  to  have  inclined  to  the  view  held  by 
some  of  the  later  Schoolmen,  that  the  accidentia  are 
sine  subjecto,  thus  professing  to  hold  the  doctrine  of 
Transubstantiation,  which  word  was  coming  into  use 
in  his  day,  and  yet  avoiding  the  coarseness  of  interpre- 
tation indulged  in  by  some  \^Titers. 

The  influence  exercised  by  the  "  Book  of  Sentences  " 
was  amazing,  far  beyond  the  merit  or  genius  of  the 
author  ;  thus  showing  how  exactly  it  fitted  in  with  the 
special  temper  of  the  times.  Peter  seems  to  have 
possessed  a  wide  range  of  learning,  and  to  have  been 
carefully,  even  painfully  industrious  ;  but  he  had  no 
originality,  no  inventiveness,  no  sprightliness  of  fancy  ; 
and  though  he  had  no  remarkable  gift  for  reasoning,  he 
had  great  reproductive  facility,  a  clear  and  compact 
method,  and  a  perspicuous  simple  st>le.     He  was,  never- 


i/,S         (IKI-A'f   school  MFy  nf-  THE  MIDDIE  AGES. 

thciess,  a  severe  d  'Miiitist,  and  slavishly  devoted  to  the 
bi-.^raiTliicii    ^ystc:in.      Ilis   "Book  of  Sentences"   was 
the  antipodes  and   the  antidote  of  the  Sic  et  Non  of 
AhcU^rd.      He  sought  to  exhibit  the  unity  of  the  Church 
F.ithcis  in  iheir  rcli;;ious  teaching,  as  his  great  master 
had   sought  to  show  their  endless  diversity.      He  did 
U>r  his  predecessors  what   ProcUis  did  for   Plotinus  ;  he 
arranged  and   syste^^a^!sed  their  views  ;  he  has  been 
well    called    the    Euclid    of     Scholasticism,'    and     his 
*•  Sentences "  became  the  propositions  and  axioms  of 
ecclesiastical   reasoning   for  generations.      The  Church 
ndopt.-^d  his  book   as  its  favourite  manual  ;  although  it 
was  hard,  dr)^,  we-tiy  dogmatism,  it  had  the  merit  of 
positiveness   and    simplicity ;    it    came    inscribed    and 
recommended   by  the  greatest  Christian  names  of  the 
past  ages  ;  it  was  most  flattering  to  the  pride  of  the 
Church    as  exhibiting  the  noblest  minds  of  the  past, 
bolstering  up  those  authoritative^  and  oracular  declara- 
tions   of   ecclesiasticism   which    were    opposed    to   the 
wayward   wistful   spirit   of  the   age,  in    its    desire    to 
escape  from  such  iron  bondage.      In  the  pages  of  Peter, 
Augi3  /tine  and  Gregory,  Ambrose  and  Anselm   spoke 
with    such    brevity,  condensaticn,    and    force,   that   his 
book  H:d  much  to  fix  the  doctrine  of  the  Church,  and 
contributed  largely  to  tiie  bold  deciijions  of  the  Council 
of  the  i.atcran,  whieri  within   half  a  century  of  Peter's 
death    -^ave  to  Chn.tendom   its  dogmatic  formulas  of 
foith,  .Scriptural  and  super-Scrlplural. 

Note  A. 

^' f")ntnmtTt  i-'itur  quae  di'.'ta  sunt;  ex  quo  de  rebus  spccialiter 
ir»rravin;us,  ha-t  jumma  est  Quod  alia-  suni  quibus  0  uendrnn  est, 
alia;  quihus  uitrriduiii  est,  iUia?  qua;  fruuntcr  et  uluntur  et  intereas, 

'  M'.hiian,  -' Lat.  Chii5,t,"  ix.,  104. 


PETER    THE  LOMBAKD.  w-) 

quibus  ctendu  est,  etia  qu.'eda  sunt  p^rr  quas  fruunur  ut  virtiit-.  s  ct 
poteniirs  animi  quje  sunt  naturalia  bona.  Dj  quibui  amnibu> 
imequam  de  signis  tracteinus,  agendum  est,  ae  pniinim  ue  rebu-^ 
tiuibus  fruendum  esc,  scilicet  de  sancta  atqui-  individua  trinitate." 
— "  Quat.  Lib.  Sent.,"  Lib.  I.,  I3istinct  i.,  p.  6. 

Note  B. 

Augustine  compared  the  Three  Persons  i:i  the  Godhead  .vifh 
the  memory,  ioteUect,  and  will  in  man.  H«'  s.iid  t!ie  Fersonf;  were 
not  to  be  regarded  as  spe<-ies,  for  we  do  not  av,  tri^  cq hi  sunt 
nnum  animal  sed  iria  .Diimalia  ("  Opp.  Trinit.,"  V.,  loj. 

"  Vellem  ut  hiti,  tria  co;.'.itarent  homines  in  seipsib.  Lonf^'"  aliud 
sunt  isu  tria  quam  ilia  Trinitab  ;  sed  diro  ubi  se  excrceani  et  ib; 
probent,  et  sentiant  quam  longe  sunt.  Dicr  autein  ha;c  tria  :  essv.-, 
nosse,  velle.  Sum  enim.  et  novi,  et  volo  ;  sum  s-ions  et  vcyleas  ;  et 
scio  esse  me  et  velle  ;  et  volo  esse  et  scire.  In  his  icfitur  tribus 
quam  sit  inscparabilis  vita,  et  una  vita,  et  una  mens,  et  una  essentia, 
quam  denique  inscparabilis  distinctio,  et  t.unea  dibtmctio,  v.deat 
qui  potest."' — Con/.,  XIII.,  u- 

Note  C. 

"  According  to  the  view  which  the  Lombard  seems  f.naliy  to 
adjopt,  (iod  did  not  become  objectively  a  man  m  Christ,  but  the 
humanity  of  (lod  had  an  existence  solely  in  the  rtprestntations  and 
notions  (}f  the  hunvin  mind  representations  .and  notions  which  He 
intended  to  take  such  r.  form.  God  clothed  HimsrH  objectuely 
with  the  gannent  of  humanity  in  oider  to  appear  as  man.  Sc  also 
the  reconciliation  was  not,  strictly  speaking;,  really  cliccted  by 
Christ  ;  but  His  appearance  and  saffeiings  were  merely  objective 
occurrences,  intended  to  be  regarded  by  God  and  man  as  ha\  in;/ 
brought  about  the  reconciliation.  The  ancient  Christian  idea,  that 
in  Christ  humanity  was  exalted  to  the  Divine  throne  and  to  a  pa-i; 
cipation  in  the  Divine  nature,  he  totally  repudiated  ;  and  supposed 
himself  to  be  justified  in  doing  so  by  the  circnmsuincc,  that  highly 
esteemed  teachers  of  the  Church  had  found  fault  with  the  ex- 
pression,' homo  dominicus.  "(<cu/uaKoy.) — Dor/wr.," Personof  Christ,"' 
Div.  II.,  vol.  i.,  p.  317. 

Note  D. 

"  Sacramentum  est  sacra-  rei  signum.     Dicitur  tamen  sacramrn- 
tum  etiam  sacrum    secretum,  sicut   sacramentum   duinitatis  ;    ut 


ISO        GREA  T  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

sacramentum  sit  sacrum  signans  ;  sed  nunc  agitur  de  sacramento 
secundum  quod,  est  signum.  hem  sacramentum  est  invisibilis 
gratias  visibilis  forma." — Lib.  Sent.,  Lib.  IV.,  dis.  i. 

Note  E. 

These  arcieat  heresies  may  be  briefly  described.  The  Mono- 
physites,  led  by  Eutyches,  Dioscorus,  and  others,  taught  that  in 
Jesus  Christ  there  was  but  one  nature,  compounded  of  the  Divine 
and  human  natures ;  so  that,  they  said,  the  Lord  Jesus  was  not 
properly  either  God  or  man,  but  a  sort  of  third  being—  between  the 
two,  of  a  mixed  compounded  nature.  The  Council  of  Chalcedon, 
AD.  451,  decided  that  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  there  are  two 
perfect  and  distinct  natures — the  Divine  and  human,  united  in  one 
person  without  mixture,  change,  or  confusion. 

The  Monotbelites  affirmed  that  after  the  Incarnation  there  was 
but  one  -will  in  the  Lord  Jesus,  that  of  the  Incarnate  God.  But  if 
the  hvo  distinct  and  perfect  natiires  are  admitted,  each  possessing 
all  its  distinctive  capacities  and  faculties,  the  doctrine  of  two  wills, 
the  Divine  and  the  human,  follows  of  course.  This  heresy  was 
condemned  by  the  Council  of  Constantmoole,  a.d.  680. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

THE   GRECIAN  DOCTOR.— THE  ADVANCE  OF 
ARIS  TO  TEUANISM. 


•'  In  prnportion  as  reason  and  philosonhy  are  extentling  their  empire 
over  the  world,  the  rulers  of  nation.^  are  stiaiiiiii;^  every  nervo  to  check  their 
progress  and  de.!>troy  the  offccts.  The  genius  of  liberty,  however,  is  roused, 
p.nd,  nided  by  suclt  powerful  succours,  victory  tuust  eventually  ensue.  The 
human  fncuUics  have  l)c -n  long  under  the  dominion  of  a  barbarous  Gothic 
ignorance.  The  lights  of  knowledge-  bejna  to  dissipate  the  ijlooni,  and  a 
successful  example  will  convince  all  nations  of  the  abuses  that  have  been 
practised  upon  iham.''  —  JUanHni's  of  the  Age. 


IX. 

THE  GRECIAN  DOCTOR.— THE  ADVANCE   OF 
A  R/S  TO  TE  LI  AN  ISM. 

It  is  important  at  this  point  to  notice  the  growth  to 
enormous  infiu'jncc,  and  indeed  to  supreme  intellectual 
ascendency,  of  the  philosophy  and  logical  methods  of 
Aristotle.  As  a  teacher  of  tiie  art  of  reasoning,  and  an 
adept  in  dialectics,  he  had  already  risen  to  a  position  of 
commanding  prominence,  although  up  to  the  commence- 
ment C}{  the  thirteenth  centuiy  he  was  only  known  in 
Cnristcndom  by  an  abridgement  of  the  Organon,  by 
Gregory  of  Nazianzum,  the  abstract  of  Boethius,  and  the 
Isagoge  of  Porphyry,  the  last  of  vvhkh  was  a  neat 
summary  of  Aristotle's  logical  system,  with  explanations 
and  illustrations  of  his  principal  terms.  Only  a  small 
number  of  advanced  scholars  had  made  acquaintance 
with  the  logical  treatises  contained  in  the  Orgaiwn. 
Kven  to  this  extremely  limited  degree,  the  Church  was 
jealous  of  his  influence,  and  manifested  uneasiness  if 
any  of  its  sons  became  unduly  familiar  with  his  teach- 
ing. Abtilard  dared  to  discuss  theological  questions  by 
his  rules,  but  the  ire  of  a  fervid  dogmatism  wa;^  aroused 
against  him.  If  known  by  others,  he  was  known  only 
by  his  Logic  ;  whilst,  as  a  moralist,  metaphysician,  or 
physicist,  he  was  almost  totallv  unrecognized  within  the 
Church. 


IS4         GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  TtJE  M/OtfLE  AGES. 

But  now  an  uneasy,  creeping  dread  began  to  be  felt 
by  the  heresy  hunters  of  the  Church.  The  alarni  was 
first  experienced  in  the  great  centre  of  European  learn- 
ing, the  University  of  Paris.  It  arose  on  the  meta- 
physical and  physical  treatises  of  Aristotle  having  been 
introduced  in  a  Latin  dress  into  the  schools  ;  for  some 
teachers  who  had  studied  them  were  said  to  have 
imbibed  false  tenets  thereby.  It  was  not  only,  however, 
the  circumstance  that  fhe  philosophy  of  Aristotle  was 
being  introduced  into  the  schools  of  the  Church  that 
aroused  the  instinctive  dislike  of  an  intolerant  eccle- 
siastical auUiorily,  but  that  it  came  through  the  dreaded 
Mohammcoan  unbelievers  ;  a  fact  which  led  to  the  per- 
secution of  those  who  encouraged  the  study  of  the 
great  Stagyritc,  and  to  his  works  being  first  prohibited 
and  then  burnt  in  public. 

The  influence  which  the  writings  of  Aristotle  had 
produced  upon  Arabian  Iparning  had  been  amazing, 
and  through  the  pure  light  cast  by  that  intellectual 
movement  in  Europe,  he  was  now  to  be  seen  enthroned 
for  centuries  as  the  master  of  learned  Christendom. 

The  Arabian  civilization  in  Europe  had  attained  to 
an  extraordinary  height.  The  city  of  Cordova  is  said 
to  have  numbered  more  than  a  million  of  inhabitants, 
and  its  streets  were  so  spacious  that  at  night  there 
might  be  seen  one  unbroken  line  of  lamps  for  ten  miles. 
Palaces,  of  stately  construction  and  elaborate  deco- 
ration, were  numerous ;  the  gardens  of  the  wealthy 
were  luxuriant  with  fruit  and  flowers,  with  summer- 
houses  and  glistering  fountains ;  the  houses  of  the 
upper  classes  were  stored  with  furniture  of  almost 
invaluable  mosaic  work,  shining  with  pearl  and  ivory, 
with  silver  and  gold,  with  malachite  and  carbuncle  ; 
ornaments  of  rarest  porcelain  and   rock  crystal,  tapes- 


THE  GRECIAN  DOCTOR.  i55 

tries  and  carpets  of  intricate  embroideries  ;  books  in 
sumptuous  bindings,  and  of  delicately  chaste  illumi- 
nation, were  scattered  in  profusion, — all  telling  of  a 
taste  which  had  been  cultivated  to  rare  excellence,  and 
wealth  which  might  have  sated  the  most  luxuriant.  It 
is  indeed  almost  impossible  not  to  believe  that  some 
exaggeration  exists  in  the  accounts  recording  the 
beauty  and  expensiveness  of  the  gardens,  the  grandeur 
of  the  palaces,  the  refinement?  and  furnishings  of  the 
apartments,  owned  by  these  Spanish-Arabians.  The 
Mohammedans  were  equally  advanced  in  the  various 
branches  of  learning,  and  equally  expert  the  art  of 
music  and  the  science  of  mathematics.  At  Cordova 
there  was  a  college  of  music,  with  rich  endowments 
and  a  numerous  staff  of  accomplished  professors.  Even 
the  Khalifs  were  skilled  in  Algebra  and  the  sterner 
branches  of  learning.  From  the  close  contiguity  of 
France,  a  taste  for  dancing  and  amorous  carolling  was 
contracted  ;  and  the  wise  sages  of  Cordova  and  Seville 
were  scandalized  by  hearing,  even  in  university  court 
and  learned  ceil,  trolled  forth  in  laughing  song  the 
praise  of  wine  and  women. 

As  many  as  seventy  great  public  libraries  existed  in 
the  chief  cities  of  the  Spanish  Khaliphate  ;  in  con- 
nection with  every  mosque  a  school  was  established, 
and  a  thorough  system  of  education  rigorously  and 
universally  carried  out ;  academies,  witli  complete  edu- 
cational machinery,, were  established,  regardless  of  ex- 
pense, for  the  children  of  those  who  occupi*id  a  high 
social  position  ;  and  in  the  chief  cities,  such  as  Cor- 
dova, Granada,  Seville,  Toledo,  and  others,  great  uni- 
versities existed,  to  which  flocked,  from  all  parts  of 
Europe,  as  well  as  from  ever\-  hamlet  in  Spam,  those 
who  desired  to  familiarise  themselves  with  the  highest 


15^         GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

learning-  of  the  times.  It  was  impossible  but  that,  in 
connection  *fiVCix  a  system  of  education  of  such  lofty 
standard  and  of  such  high  culture,  a  great  literature 
should  arise.  The  Arabian  philosophers  produced 
copiously  books  of  great  excellence  in  every  depart- 
ment of  learning.  Their  lexicons  of  Greek,  Hebrew, 
and  Latin,  and  their  treatisf^'^  on  the  various  sciences, 
were  prepared  with  such  careful  and  minute  elaboration 
that  one  treatise  alone  consisted  of  sixty  volumes. 
They  had  works  on  chronology,  numismatics,  agricul- 
ture, oratory,  statistics,  zoology,  gems,  botany,  medicine, 
surgery,  arithmetic,  astronomy,  anatomy,  and  other 
sciences.  They  abounded  also  in  works  of  fiction  and 
romance,  in  satires,  odes,  and  all  kinds  of  rhythmical 
verse.  It  is  saying  but  little  to  affirm  that  in  almost 
eveiy  branch  of  human  learning  the  Arabs  were  the 
leaders  of  Europe  ;  that  of  many  of  the  scientific  dis- 
coveries of  later  days  they  were  the  positive  antici- 
pators, and  of  some  the  unconscious  prophets. 

Amongst  the  thinkers  and  philosophers  of  theArabian 
school,  Aristotle  occupied  the  chief  place  of  homage 
To  them  he  summed  up  and  represented  the  genius  of 
the  noble  Hellenic  philosophy ;  and  what  was  even 
more  to  them,  he  seemed  to  deal  with  every  subject 
which  the  Koran  omitted.  In  him  they  had  a  great 
leader  of  tliought  in  every  department  of  knowledge 
which  was  left  open  to  them  by  their  book  of  fate  ; 
so  that  when  the  demand  arose  amongst  them  for  a 
noble  scientific  culture,  they  enthroned  Aristotle  as 
their  sovereign  teacher,  and  to  his  system  they  referred 
on  all  subjects  in  science  and  philosophy.  The  Koran 
was  accepted  as  their  infallible  guide  in  the  moral  or 
spiritual  world,  and  Aristotle  was  considered  as  equally 
infallible  in  the  world  of  philosophy  and  science. 


7  ///    (RFC  J  A  N'  DOC  FO  R.  :  5  7 

The  most  illuv.riwus  name  amon^^st  i.he  early  devo- 
tees  of  the   great  Greek  logician  was  Aviccenna,  who 
died   in    1037.      He   taught  at   Baghdad,    and    '\r\   him 
were  gathered  up  the  highest  results  of  Orientnl  learn- 
ing.    He  was  followed  by  Algazel,  who  was  called  by 
his  countrymen  the  I  maun  of  the  world,  and    >r  whom 
was  recorded  the  noble  epitaph.  "  The  man  who  pr;kr- 
tised  what  he  taught,  aiMi  who,  of  all  others,  feared  to 
offend  his  Maker."      When  asked  how  he  had   attained 
his  extraordinary  learning,  he  replied,  "  By  never  having? 
been   ashamed  to  inquire   when   I  v/as   ignorant."      In 
Spain,  Aristotelianism  was  cultivated   by  Avicebron   in 
the  twelfth   century  ;  and   in   the  thirteenth  by  Avcm- 
brace,  who  wrote  commentaries  on  the  physical  treatises 
of  Aristotle  ;  and    who  again  was   followed    by   Abu- 
bacer,  until  appeared  Averroes,  in  whom   the  Arabian 
Aristotelianism    bore   its   latest  and   ripest  fruit.     But 
while  Averroes  adopted  Aristotle  as  his  text-book,  and 
reproduced  his  method  in   teaching,  he  did  not  allow 
him.self  to  become  the  mere  echo  of  his  master,  but 
.showed  himself  bold  enough  to  ri;>e  into  an  independent 
range  of  thou;.;ht.     With  Aristotle,  he  ascended  frtMn 
mere   sense   to    the  understanding,  but  aflP.rmed,  very 
emphatically,    not  only  the  permanent  existence   and 
immateriality  of  the  thinking  boui.  but  also  its  existence 
apart  from  individuals,  who  only  shared  it  in  proportion 
to  the  measure  of  intelligence  possessed  by  them.     The 
inspiring   will    and   the   ripest  dev^clopmeni   of  human 
reason  lie  in  this  universal  soul,  cnnd  within  its  embrace 
all    the   generations   of   thinking   men    h've  and   move. 
This   doctrine   of  the    unity  of  intellect   or  S(<ul  gave 
rise  to  the  belief  thaf  Averroes  taught  a  theory  of  one 
soul  commv^n  to  all   m.ankind.      He  sought  to  connect 
this  active  mind  vv-ith  the  highest  arKl  universal  intelli- 


I5S        GREAT  SCHOOL\fEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

gence  through  such  a  hierarchy  as  Proclus  or  Dionysius 
had  previously  formed. 

These  Aristotelic  Arabians  were  undoubtedly  men 
of  extraordinary  learning  and  capacity  ;  they  had  acute, 
atjile  minds  ;  they  united  marvellous  industry  with  the 
dry  light  of  pure  intellect ;  they  were  as  patient  in  their 
researches  as  an  Alexandrian  algebraist ;  tney  were  as 
subtle  in  their  thinking  as  a  Greek  sophist.  They 
grudged  no  labour ,  they  sickened  at  no  drudgery ; 
they  were  intimidated  by  no  abstruseness  in  their  sub- 
ject ;  they  had  a  quenchless  thirst  for  the  noblest 
knowledge ;  they  had  a  virgin  taste  for  the  highest 
studies ;  they  ventured  into  the  widest  domains  of 
philosophy  ;  they  attempted  the  boldest  experiments 
in  science,  and  they  gave  a  mighty  impulse  to  the 
intellectual  development  of  the  human  race.  It  was 
not  so  much  their  fault  as  their  misfortune,  arising  out 
of  the  circumsto.nces  of  their  times,  that  they  became 
bound  hand  and  foot  by  the  fettering  methods  of 
Aristotle.  These  often  entangled  them  in  verbal 
disquisitions,  instead  of  leading  them  to  practical  dis- 
cussions. Fettered  by  logical  predicaments,  they  were 
often  tied  down  to  gross  materialism  when  they  might 
have  soared  into  higher  regions,  or  attained  more  sure 
foothold.  They  were  ofttimes  left  blindfolded  when 
they  might  otherwise  have  penetrated  behind  the  veil. 

In  the  brief  lull  of  intellectual  progress  which  ensued 
after  the  publication  of  the  "Book  of  Sentences" — 
which  seemed  at  once  to  sum  up  the  intellectual  pro- 
gress already  attained,  and  to  arrest  for  a  time  its 
further  development — the  teaching  of  Arabian  philo- 
sophers was  slowly  but  deeply  permeating  the  mind  of 
Christendom.  In  the  previous  centur}''  many  had  re- 
paired   to  the  Universities   of  Spain   to   drink  at  the 


THE  GRECIA N  DOC  TOR.  1 59 

springs  of  the  new  lenrning,  some  of  whose  names  arc 
still  bright  upon  the  historic  page  ;  as,  e.^.,  Herman 
Dalmatus,  the  Venerable  Peter,  Abbot  of  Ciugny,  who 
translated  from  the  Arabic  the  life  of  Mohammed  ; 
Gerard  of  Cremona,  Robert  Ratanensis  from  England, 
who  translated  the  Koran ;  Adelard  of  Rath,  who  wrote 
in  the  form  of  a  dialogue  a  book  on  "Difficult  Questions 
in  Nature  "  ;  Daniel  Morley,  also  an  Englishman,  who 
studied  at  Toledo  in  i  1 90,  and  attained  great  Scholastic 
proficiency  ;  Michael  Scott,  the  so  called  wizard,  and 
the  last  minstrel  of  Scotland,  who  translated  Aviccenna's 
treatise  on  Aristotle's  Book  of  Animals,  dedicating  it 
to  the  Emperor  Frederick  II.  ;  and  many  others,  who 
without  going  to  Spain  became  familiar  with  Aristotle 
throagh  the  Mohammedan  authors,  and  were  quickened 
thereby  to  a  more  eager  intellectual  acuteness.  Averrocs 
became  the  interpreter  of  Aristotle  to  the  Schoolmen 
who  followed  him,  and  was  deemed  worthy  by  Dante 
of  being  ranked  amongst  the  noble  and  heroic  spirits 
of  the  heathen  world. 

It  was  by  no  accident,  but  by  the  guidance  of  an 
infallible  instinct,  that  the  advancing  spirit  of  learning 
in  Christendom  began  to  look  upon  Aristotle  as  its 
high  priest ;  and  it  was  by  an  instinct  as  unerring  that 
the  prevailing  Ecclesiasticism  aroused  itself  promptly 
to  seek  to  arrest  his  growing  influence.  It  is  true  that 
the  great  Greek  master  had  been  commended  to  the 
Church  by  such  trusted  and  almost  apostolic  teachers 
as  Augustine  and  the  Gregories,  and  by  the  cl.a5sic 
Boethius  ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  were  not  the  aber- 
rations of  Ab^lard,  the  pantheism  of  Amalric  de  Bena, 
and  of  David  of  Dinanto,  the  rebellion  of  Arnold  of 
Brescia,  and  other  disorders  in  the  Church  and  State, 
to  be  traced  to  the  insurgent  spirit  roused  by  the  study 


lOo        GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

of  his  works  ?  And  might  not  the  general  diffusion 
of  his  philosophical  principles  and  his  logical  method 
tend  to  disturb  the  serenity  of  the  Church  and  to  intei- 
fcre  with  the  exercise  of  its  authorit)'  ?  The  answer 
was  plain  ;  Aristotle  had  been  described  by  Tcrtullian 
as  the  parent  of  heresies,  and  the  morbid  tone  of  this 
eminent  North  African  father  expressed  the  preva- 
lent feeling  of  the  Church,  Therefore  censures  and 
protests  were  fulminated  against  the  great  Peripatetic  ; 
his  writings  were  to  be  cast  out  of  the  schools  ;  his 
commentators  and  disciples  must  be  repressed,  and  his 
growing  influence  destroyed.  If  this  were  not  done, 
there  would  be  danger  to  the  Hildebrandism  of  the 
Church,  which  would  no  longer  be  considered  as  the 
lord  of  the  intellect  and  the  conscience.  But  this 
could  not  be  done ; '  the  light  streaming  from  the 
Mohammedan  Universities  was  beaming  too  brightly 
upon  the  surrounding  darkness,  and  the  spirit  of  intel- 
le-^ual  life  was  pulsating  too  powerfully  in  the  heart  of 
Christendom  to  be  extinguished.  Within  the  Church 
itself  had  arisen  an  order  of  men  who  were  both  well 
able  to  appreciate  the  prev^ailing  tone  and  to  reecho 
it ;  who,  although  loving  sons  of  the  Church,  had  no 
sympathy  with  the  desire  to  lord  it  over  the  minds  of 
men  in  accordance  with  the  ruling  passion  of  the  poten- 
tates of  the  Vatit:an,  and  who,  in  the  learned  leisure 
and  quiet  seclusion  of  the  monastic  retreat,  busied 
themselves  with  the  study  and  discussion  of  questions 
of  overwhelming  interest  and  importance  concerning 
Knov.nig  and  Being  and  Destiny,  until  the  day  of  a 
free  learning  and  of  a  new  spiritual  life  dawned  upon 
the  world. 

The  monks  of  the  Dominican  order  so  far  understood 
the   prevailing  spirit  of  the  times  as  to  perceive .  that 


THE  GRECIAN  DOCTOR.  i6i 

some  such  influence  as  Aristotle  could  exercise  was 
required,  as  much  for  the  sake  of  the  Church  as  for  the 
cause  of  learning.  His  avoidance  of  religious  questions 
seemed  to  provide  for  the  entire  separation  of  revealed 
and  natural  religion,  and  to  promise  that  Church  dogmas 
might  be  left  to  their  unquestionable  supremacy  ;  the 
clear  and  distinct  lines  within  which  each  subject  of 
discussion  was  marked  off  from  all  others  seemed  to 
be  a  guarantee  against  all  danger  from  rashness  of 
speculation  ;  the  severity  of  his  logical  methods  pro- 
mised, if  nothing  more,  to  give  unerring  conclusions  on 
points  under  consideration  ;  and  if  such  methods  of 
reasoning  could  be  successfully  efnployed  within  the 
realm  of  Christian  doctrine,  nnight  not  the  Church  defy 
the  very  existence  of  heresy  ?  Hence  the  great  School- 
men who  arose  in  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries 
steeped  their  minds  in  the  teachings  and  method  of 
Aristotle  ;  he  became  the  master  mind  of  Christendom, 
with  what  varied  results  will  appear  hereafter ;  and  this 
supremacy  remained  until  the  Christian  consciousness 
at  length  rose  to  its  maturity,  and  disdained  to  be  for 
ever  bound  either  in  the  rigours  of  a  severe  logical 
method,  or  in  the  more  tyrannous  restraint  of  an  iron 
ecclesiastical  despotism. 

In  coming  to  consider  the  efforts  of  the  great  men 
who  for  some  generations  laboured  in  building  the 
enormous  pile  of  mediaeval  scholasticism,  the  mind 
is  bewildered  by  the  stores  of  learning,  accumulated 
with  such  industry  and  ingenuity,  and  is  sorely  tempted 
to  ask  the  question,  "  To  what  purpose  is  this  waste  } " 
Due  consideration  will  lead  to  the  conclusion  that  vast 
and  ponderous  as  these  intellectual  pyramids  are,  and 
devoid  of  all  charm  to  the  modern  reader,  save  as  they 
gratify  the  sense  of  wonder  by  their  gigantic  quantity, 

II 


1 63         GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

they  are  not  waste.  They  have  had  a  noble  purpose, 
and  a  great  it"  not  an  adequate  result ;  and  it  might  be 
shown,  perhaps  may  be,  that  so  imperative  were  th^ 
demands  and  circumstances  of  the  times,  that  it  was 
only  through  painful  intricacies,  by  unwearied  applica- 
tion, and  accumulative  industry  that  the  battle  of  human 
progress  and  freedom  could  be  won.  It  might  also  be 
shown  that  the  dark  windings  of  the  Scholastic  centuries 
were  a  needful  course  in  the  order  of  Divine  Provi- 
dence before  the  victory  of  Erasmus,  Luther,  and 
Knox  was  possible,  even  though  in  fighting  their 
great  battle  these  heroic  spirits  seemed  to  fight  against 
those  who,  in  former  ages,  had  done  so  much  to 
make  their  work  less  difficult  and  their  triumph  more 
complete. 

Note  A. 

Averroes  taught  that  there  is  a  transcendent  or  abstract  being 
which  the  world  of  nature  is  always  seeking:  "  He  is  thought  or 
intellect,  the  actuality  of  which  movement  is  but  the  fragmentary 
attainment  in  successive  instants  of  time.  Such  a  mind  is  not  in 
the  theological  sense  a  creator ;  yet  the  oxtward  movement  is  not 
the  same  as  what  some  modern  thinkers  seem'  to  mean  by  develop- 
ment. ...  The  preparation  of  the  heart  and  faculties  gives 
rise  to  a  series  of  grades  between  the  original  predisposition  and 
the  full  acquisition  of  actual  intellect.  These  grades  in  the  main 
resemble  those  given  by  Aviccenna.  But  beyond  these,  Averroes 
claims  as  the  highest  bUss  of  the  soul  a  union  in  this  life  with  the 
actual  intellect.  The  intellect,  therefore,  is  one  and  continuous  in 
all  individuals,  who  differ  only  in  the  degree  which  their  illumina- 
tion has  attained.  Such  was  the  Averroist  doctrine  of  the  unity  of 
intellect — the  eternal  and  universal  nature  of  true  intellectual  life. 
By  his  interpreters  it  was  transformed  into  a  theory  of  one  soul 
common  to  all  mankind,  and  when  thus  corrupted  conflicted  not 
unreasonably  with  the  doctrines  of  a  future  hfe,  common  to  Islam 
and  Christendom."— Art.  "Averrof:s,"  Encyc.  Brit,  iii.,  150;  9th  ed. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE   UNIVERSAL  DOCTOR.— ALBERTUS  MAGNUS. 


i 


"  Oh  I  what  a  lively  life,  what  heavenly  power, 
What  spreading  virtue,  what  a  sparkling  fire  ! 
How  great,  how  plentiful,  how  rich  a  dower 
Dost  Thou  within  this  dying  flesh  inspire  ! 

"  Thou  leav'st  Thy  print  in  other  works  of  Thine, 
But  Thy  whole  image  Thou  in  man  hast  writ ; 
There  cannot  be  a  creature  more  divine, 
Except  like  Thee  it  should  be  Infinite." 

Sir  John  Davfes. 


X. 

THE  UNIVERSAL  DOCTOR.—ALBERTUS  MAGNUS. 

Albert  the  Great  was  the  first  of  the  Schoolmen  who 
reproduced  the  Aristotelian  philosophy  on  a  systematic 
basis,  and  so  shaped  it  as  to  meet  the  requirements  of 
the  Church  in  reference  to  dogma.  He  belonged  to 
the  noble  family  of  the  Counts  of  BoUstadt,  and  was 
born  at  Lauingen,  in  Swabia.  The  date  of  his  birth 
seems  to  have  been  1 193,  but  some  of  his  biographers 
fix  it  so  late  as  1205.  He  received  a  portion  of 
his  early  education  at  Paris,  and  went  thence  to  Padua, 
where  he  became  familiar  with  the  writings  of  Aristotle. 
The  great  order  of  preaching  friars  of  St.  Dominic  had 
recently  been  established,  and  the  world  was  going  after 
it  In  Padua,  the  head  of  the  order  was  a  Saxon  monk 
named  Jordan,  a  man  of  burning  eloquence  and  all- 
consuming  zeal.  The  ardent  mind  of  the  youthful 
Albert  was  enkindled  by  his  influence,  and  he  took 
the  vows  of  the  Order  as  a  mendicant  friar  in  1223. 
Under  its  rules  he  studied  theology  at  Bologna;  then 
he  repaired  to  Cologne  and  taught  in  the  schools  there, 
speedily  rising  to  great  renown  as  a  teacher  of  extra- 
ordinary power.  In  1228  he  was  elected  to  lecture 
in  the  school  of  his  Order  established  in  Paris  in  con- 
nection with    the  Convent  of  St.  Jacobin.      His  fame 


1 66         GREA  T  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  ACES. 

filled  the  city,  and  although  he  was  limited  to  the  dry 
and  bony  "Book  of  Sentences,"  as  a  text-book,  his 
lectures  displayed  such  fam-iliartty  with  every  branch  of 
learning,  such  bold  originality  of  treatment,  and  such 
clearness  of  method,  that  his  multitudinous  auditors 
listened  with  wondering  and  solemn  awe.  His  admirers 
declared  that  never  before  had  a  creature  received  such 
plenitude  of  wisdom  and  knowledge  from  the  hand  of 
God  ;  whilst  others,  moved  by  a  base  jealousy,  whispered 
that  he  was  a  wizard,  a  magician,  possessed  by  an  evil 
spirit.  For  three  years  he  held  this  position  with  such 
renown  that  he,  a  mere  monk  of  the  mendicant  Order, 
threw  utterly  into  the  shade  all  who  had  preceded 
him,  especially  in  his  thorough  knowledge  of  Aristotle 
and  his  Arabian  Commentators.  Then  his  career  in 
the  great  intellectual  metropolis  closed,  for  a  time, 
amidst  a  blaze  of  glory,  which  was  undimmed  by  the 
few  indications  of  envy  and  suspicion  which  here 
and  there  began  to  show  themselves.  He  returned 
to  Cologne,  and  his  fame  rose  to  such  an  extraordinary 
height  that  he  was  honoured  with  a  visit  from  the 
Emperor  William  of  Holland,  who  was  filled  with 
amazement  at  his  stores  of  erudition  and  his  varied 
powers.  Although  he  was  apparently  absorbed  in  his 
favourite  ecclesiastical  pursuits,  he  was  appointed  by 
the  Head  of  the  Order  to  various  tasks  which  may  well 
be  reckoned  far  from  congenial  to  such  a  man.  He 
was  made  a  Provincial  of  his  Order,  and  the  enormous 
district  of  the  whole  of  Germany  placed  under  his  super- 
vision. This  office  was  so  far  from  being  a  sinecure 
that  he  was  required  by  the  Diet  of  Worms  to  personally 
inspect  all  the  monasteries  within  his  circuit.  He  dis- 
charged his  functions  with  the- utmost  care  and  fidelity 
He  called  the  monks  to  account  for  idleness  or  looseness 


THE  U/flVERSAL  DOCTOR.  167 

of  life ;  he   rescued   from   oblivion    many    manuscripts 
which  were  rotting  in  dirt  and  neglect,  and  he  sought 
to  restore  the  discipline  of  devotion  and  morality  which 
was  largely  transgressed.'      In  the  midst  of  his  active 
administrative  labours  and  his  learned  pursuits  he  wrvi 
summoned  to  Rome,  and  there  by  the  Pope,  Alexander  IV., 
was   made   the  Grand  Master  of  the  Palace.      There, 
also,  he  was  called  upon  to  defend  his  Order  against  its 
most  virulent  assailants  ;  and  this  he  did  not  only  with 
success,  but  so  as  to  astonish  the  Cardinals  and  Doctors 
of  the  Church  by  his  profound  theological  attainments. 
Finding    the    influences    of  the    Papal    court   and   the 
moral  atmosphere  of  Rome  to  be  disagreeable  to  him, 
he  was  allov/ed  to  resign  his  post  of  honour,  and  he 
repaired   to  the   comparative   quiet    of   the    school    of 
Cologne.      In    1260,  he   was   most   unwillingly   com- 
pelled   to   accept   the  Bishopric  of   Ratisbon,  and    for 
three  years  he  bore  the  unwelcome  burden  of  respon- 
sibility ;  not,  however,  failing  to  discharge  his  episcopal 
functions  with  invariable  conscientiousness.  He  managed 
the  affairs  of  his  diocese  so  admirably  as  to  relieve  it  of 
a  crushing  debt,  and  elevate  its  dignity  and  influence  ; 
then  he  obtained  leave  from  his  patron  to  retire  from 
these  unwelcome  duties.    He  again  sought  the  congenial 
quietude  of  his  beloved  Cologne,  where  he  assiduously 
devoted  himself  to  his  loved  and   learned  study   and 
teaching.      His  course  there  was  only  interrupted  by 
his  being  summoned  to  attend  the  Council  of  Lyons, 
and  to  aid  in  the  deposition  of  the  Emperor  Frederick  II. 
As  he  proceeded  thither  he  was  met  by  a  great  grief 
It  was  revealed   to   him,  as  some  of  his  biographers 
say  miraculously,  that  his  former  pupil,  Thomas  Aquinas, 
the  most  conspicuous  light  of  the  Middle  Ages,  lay  on 

1  Note  A. 


1 68        GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

the  verge  of  death,  and  he  sorrowed  for  him  with  a 
great  sorrow.  After  the  tremendous  excitements  of 
the  Council,  he  returned  to  Cologne,  and  resumed  his 
teaching.  He  spent  some  years  thus,  occasionally 
preaching  throughout  Bavaria  and  the  neighbouring 
principalities,  until  at  length  the  weary  wheels  of  life 
stood  still.  He  was  in  the  act  of  lecturing  when  his 
memory  failed  him.  It  was  a  call  to  prepare  to  meet 
the  Bridegroom, — his  admirers  affirm  it  was  a  sign 
which  the  Virgin  had  agreed  to  give  him  that  his 
work  was  done.  In  quietness  and  calmness  he  waited 
for  a  little,  and  then  he  was  at  rest  for  ever.  In  the 
year  1280,  at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty-seven,  and 
in  his  favourite  retreat  at  Cologne,  he  fell  on  sleep. 

An  edition  of  his  works,  consisting  of  twenty-one 
tall  folio  volumes,  published  by  Peter  Jammy  in  165  i, 
attest  the  unwearied  industry  of  his  life.  He  was  un- 
doubtedly the  most  erudite  philosopher  of  his  generation, 
and  this  is  an  encomium  of  the  rarest  kind,  when  such 
rivals  as  Alexander  Hales  and  Thomas  Aquinas  dis- 
puted the  palm  with  him.  But  he  was  more  widely 
read  and  more  scientific  than  the  one,  and  more  learned 
and  systematic  than  the  other.  Besides  this,  he 
showed  extraordinary  skill  and  aptitude  for  business, 
and  the  practical  method  of  his  life  enabled  him  to 
compass  the  most  gigantic  toils.  Seven  volumes  of  his 
works  out  of  the  twenty-one  consist  of  lectures  and 
treatises  on  the  philosophy  of  Aristotle,  and  on  the 
interpretations  of  his  Arabian  commentators.  His  prin- 
cipal theological  works  are,  a  Commentary  on  the 
" Book  of  Sentences"  in  three  volumes,  and  a  "  Summa 
Theologice"  in  two. 

Albert  was  by  nature  and  mental  training  the  scien- 
tific interpreter  of  Scholasticism.      Perhaps  to  Aquinas 


THE  UmVEJiSAL  DOCTOR.  169 

the  range  of  philosophy  was  more  congenial,  taken 
as  a  whole,  but  if  he  has  occupied  a  larger  place  in 
the  estimation  of  the  Church,  it  need  not  be  con- 
cluded that,  reckoning  the  entire  work  of  Albertus 
Magnus,  it  was  less  serviceable  to  humanity  at  large. 
The  impulse  he  gave  to  the  study  of  Aristotle  through- 
out Christendom  was  very  great.  His  lectures  tra- 
versed the  whole  of  the  Stagyrite's  system.  He  was 
indeed  called  "  the  ape  of  Aristotle,"  an  epithet  he 
by  no  means  merited,  as  will  appear  presently.  He 
refuted  the  interpretations  of  Aristotle  by  Averroes, 
and  expanded  those  of  Aviccenna.  He  discoursed 
on  all  the  Arabian  experts  who  had  exercised  their 
dialectic  skill  on  the  Greek  master,  and  showed  the 
utmost  familiarity  with  their  writings.  He  laboured 
even  with  painful  desire  to  reconcile  the  conflicting 
tenets  of  Plato  and  Aristotle  with  the  doctrines  of  the 
Christian  Church.  He  showed  such  perfect  intimacy 
with  the  secrets  of  natural  history  and  science  that  the 
ignorant  babbled  about  him  as  bemg  guilty  of  magical 
arts.  He  speculated  so  boldly  in  astronomy,  chemistry, 
and  mathematics  that  he  paved  the  way  to  the  greater 
triumph,  and  more  cordial  recognition,  of  the  ardent 
scientific  spirits  of  a  future  age.  In  his  philosophy  he 
was  a  Realist,  although  in  some  features  he  differed  from 
his  great  Greek  master.  He  aimed  at  a  kind  of 
eclecticism  in  treating  of  the  Universal.  He  said  thatthe 
Universal  existed  in  a  three-fold  manner  ;  tcniversale 
ante  rem,  as  ideas  in  the  mind  of  God,  thus  adopting 
generally  the  view  of  Plotinus  and  Augustine;  tmiversale 
in  re,  as  the  common  basis  in  a  class  of  individual  objects, 
as  taught  by  Aristotle  ;  and  universale  post  rem,  or  the 
subjective  concept,  the  general  notions  or  universal 
cognitions  which   arise  out  of  the  generalisations  of  tlie 


I70        GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  O^  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

mind.  He  thus  seemed  to  combine  "the  views  of  Reahsts, 
Nominalists,  and  Conceptualists,  anticipating- the  eclectic 
philosophers  of  subsequent  centuries.  Although  he 
generally  adhered  to  the  teaching  of  Aristotle,  both  in 
his  physical  and  metaphysical  theories,  he  by  no  means 
allowed  himself  to  be  enslaved  by  his  influence,  but 
differed  from  him  in  an  independent  spirit  where  his 
judgment  led  him  to  do  so.  He  especially  dissented 
from  his  views  on  the  eternity  of  matter,  and  on  the 
nature  of  the  human  soul.  He  insisted  strongly  upon 
the  sole  eternity  of  God,  and  that  He  alone  had  primary 
and  essential  existence.  He  formed  a  view  of  creation 
somewhat  resembling  that  taught  by  Plato,  and  yet 
shrank  with  horror  from  the  results  of  the  doctrine  of 
emanation  when  it  seemed  to  demand  that  the  Divine 
intelligence  was  absolutely  one  with  the  human.  He 
recoiled  from  Pantheism  as  being  blasphemous,  and 
dishonouring  to  God,  He  laboured  with  earnest^ 
patient  ingenuity  to  define  the  provinces  of  the  eternal 
and  the  temporal,  of  the  infinite  and  the  finite.  He 
sought  to  preserve  a  clear  line  of  distinction  between 
natural  and  revealed  religion,  and  said  that  such  subjects 
as  the  Trinity,  Redemption,  and  Original  Sin  were  to 
be  considered  as  matters  of  revelation,  and  not  to  be 
treated  as  subjects  of  philosopliical  speculation.  There- 
fore he  wrote  concerning  God  in  purely  metaphysical 
strain.  He  insisted  that  the  primary  question  in  all 
science  is  that  of  Being  as  Being.  From  the  knowledge 
of  nature  he  rose  to  a  knowledge  of  God  as  the  great 
Creator,  but  affirmed  that  the  relations  of  God  and  man 
as  a  sinner  against  God  are  to  be  learnt  from  the  reve- 
lation of  Divine  grace.  He  rejected  the  onlological 
argument  of  Anselm,  and  confirmed  the  inductive  argu- 
ment as  possessing    sufficient    force  and    clearness   in 


THE  UNIVERSAL  DOCTOR.  171 

proving  the  existence  of  a  Creator,  He  maintained 
the  infinity  of  God,  and  said  that  while  man  cannot 
fully  comprehend  God,  he  can  and  does  arrive  at  a 
definite  knowledge  of  Him.  God  is  overflowing  in 
energy,  ever  sending  forth  streams  of  Divine  influence. 
He  is  a  simple  distinct  existence,  and  must  not  be  con- 
fused with  the  material  universe  ;  and  as  God  is  not 
common  with  His  creatures  eternity  belongs  to  Him  as 
His  primary  attribute.  The  universe  was  called  into 
Being  out  of  nothing,  and  so  also  was  time,  and  all 
'things  must  necessarily  perish  unless  upheld  by  the 
eternal  Essence  and  the  mighty  providence  of  God.  As 
being  able  to  arrive  at  a  real  and  direct  knowledge  of 
God,  the  human  soul  is  an  heir  of  immortality  ;  but  in 
his  definition  of  the  soul  Albertus  not  only  included 
the  active  intellect,  but  those  faculties  which  Aristotle 
enumerated  as  the  vegetative,  sensitive,  appetitive,  and 
motival,  which  may  all  be  separated  from  the  body  and 
become  immortal.  He  taught  that  when  appetite  and 
reason  come  into  conflict,  the  free  will  of  man  is  called 
to  decide  between  them,  and  that  through  this  function 
of  decision  desire  is  exalted  into  perfect  will.  The  law, 
he  said,  which  regulates  reason  is  conscience,  which,  as 
to  its  intuitive  knowledge  of  the  right  principles  of 
action,  is  imperishable  and  innate,  but  which  in  appli- 
cation to  separate  cases  is  variable,  and  requires  con- 
tinual enlightenment  and  education.  He  adopted  the 
four  virtues  of  the  ancients  as  taught  by  Plato  and 
Aristotle — Wisdom,  Fortitude, Temperance,  and  Justice; 
and  added  to  these  the  three  Christian  graces — Faith, 
Hope,  and  Love — as  the  Divine  ideal  of  human  ex- 
cellence. 

The  system  of  religious  philosophy  taught  by  Albert 
was  characterised  by  a  spirit  of  daring  which  was  only 


172         GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

restrained  from  rushing  into  fatal  heresies  by  his  pro- 
found submission  to  the  vow  of  his  order,  and  his  deeply- 
devotional  spirit.  He  was  led  to  refinements  and  dis- 
tinctions innumerable,  both  as  to  the  nature  of  God  and 
of  man,  until  when  it  almost  seemed  a  certainty  that  he 
would  sacrifice  the  personality  of  both,  he  would  start 
back  appalled  at  the  logical  ult  of  his  position,  or 
turn  with  horror  from  the  danger  before  him.  His 
system  attempts  to  blend  the  Ideas  of  Plato  with  the 
Forms  of  Aristotle  and  the  Formal  Concepts  of 
Abelard.  He  was  quite  decided  in  affirming  the  per- 
sonality of  man,  yet,  as  has  been  intimated  before,  he 
verged  on  Pantheism  when  he  accepted  a  modified 
theory  of  the  emanation  of  all  things  from  the  Deity. 
Moreover,  in  the  final  result  of  his  system,  he  treads 
almost  within  the  domain  of  Mysticism,  He  had  be- 
come so  perfectly  familiar  with  the  dialectical  method 
that  he  was  in  great  danger  of  being  enslaved  by  the 
power  it  gave  him  of  arranging  and  organizing  ;  and 
whilst,  on  the  one  hand,  this  rare  power  enabled  him 
to  bring  almost  the  whole  circle  of  human  knowledge 
into  systematic  form,  it  made  him  too  much  a  logical 
machine,  and  too  little  spiritual  as  a  teacher.  He  was 
exceedingly  devout  in  his  own  life ;  he  took  great 
delight  in  religious  exercises  ;  he  manifested  a  clear 
appreciation  and  knowledge  of  Christian  doctrine  ;  but 
the  strong  scientific  tendency  of  his  mind  left  his 
writings  too  much  devoid  of  the  practical  element  and 
of  pious  sentiment.  His  name  has  been  enwrapt  in  a 
dim  and  uncertain  haze  of  romance.  He  was  an  object 
of  wonder,  almost  of  awe  ;  greatly  admired,  but  little 
known  ;  a  marvel  of  attainments  and  application,  but 
faintly  understood;  spoken  of  in  the  broken  language 
of  tradition  as  a  mysterious  person,  possessed  of  pre- 


THE  UNIVERSAL  DOCTOR.  173 

ternatural  powers  and  exercising  magical  arts,  but  more 
correctly  estimated  in  the  sober  light  of  history  as  a 
many-sided  philosopher,  who  was  able  to  exercise  a 
quickening  influence  upon  his  generation  unsurpassed 
by  any  of  his  contemporaries,  and  whose  labours  con- 
tributed much  to  open  the  whole  sphere  of  true  philo- 
sophic enquiry  to  future  explorers.  He  won  from  his 
followers  the  well-deserved  and  richly-bought  title  of 
the  Universal  Doctor. 

Note  A. 

"  His  biographer  assures  us  that  he  was  a  mendicant  in  the 
strictest  sense,  and  determined  to  vindicate  the  dignity  of  poverty 
against  all  opposers  and  all  hypocrites.  In  the  course  of  his  inspec- 
tions he  found  that  a  lay  brother  had  died  with  some  unconfessed 
wealth.  He  ordered  that  his  body  should  be  at  once  removed  from 
the  consecrated  ground  in  which  it  had  been  laid,  that  his  judgment 
even  in  this  life  might  be  manifest.'' — Maurice,  "Met.  and  Mor. 
PhiL,"  i.,  597. 


CHAPTER  XL 

THE  IRREFRAGABLE   DOCTOR,  ALEXANDER  OF 
HALES. 


"  Abstract  words  are  the  gases  of  language." 
' '  Analysis  is  the  art  of  divination  or  invention  reduced  to  rules. " 
"  Philosophy  is  properly  a  home  sickness,  a  longing  to  be  everywhere  at 
home. " 

"  To  know  a  truth  well,  one  must  have  fought  it  out." 
"  Philosophy  can  bake   no  bread,   but  she  can   procure  for  us   God, 
Freedom,   Immortality.     Which,  then,  is  more   practical,    Philosophy  or 
Economy  ?  "  NoVALIS. 


XI. 

THE  IRREFRAGABLE  DOCTOR,  ALEXANDER   OF 
HALES. 

At.exander  of  Hales  was  born  in  the  count)-  of 
Gloucester  in  the  latter  part  of  the  twelfth  centur>'. 
Educated  in  the  monastery  of  Hales,  he  thence  derived 
the  name  by  which  he  is  known  in  histoiy,  and  on  which 
he  has  conferred  immortality.  He  received  a  liberal 
education,  of  which  he  v/as  so  receptive  that  he  obtained 
preferment  in  the  form  of  an  archdeaconry  at  a  vcr)'- 
early  age.  "But  his  thirst  for  learning  was  too  keen  i.o 
be  content  in  so  narrow  a  sphere,  and  he  was  soon 
drawn  by  the  irresistible  influence  which  made  the 
University  of  Paris  the  centre  of  attraction  to  the  \ouno 
and  ardent  spirits  of  the  Church.  There  he  drank  in 
learning  with  such  avidity  that  he  quickly  surpassed 
nearly  aM  his  contemporaries,  took  his  degree  of  doctor, 
and  became  a  teacher  of  philosophy  and  thcolocyy.  In 
1222  he  united  himself  with  the  Franciscan  Order  of 
monVrs,  which  had  recentl}-  been  instituted,  and  which 
divided  with  the  Dominicans  the  enthusiasm  of  the 
most  earnest  and  sanguine  Christian;;  of  the  age. 
Although  he  was  at  the  very  height  of  fame  and  popu- 
larity, he  retired  into  a  private  retreat,  and  gave  himself 
to  close  and  absorbing  study.     He  retained  the  title  of 

12 


178  GREA  T  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

doctor,  being   the  first   of  the  Order  to  do  so  ;     and 
although  he  apparently  violated  the  vow  of  complete 
and  absolute  renunciation  of  everything  merely  earthly, 
which   he    had     deliberately    taken,    he    was     quickly 
followed   by  others  who  claimed   the   same   privilege. 
He   spent  twenty-three  years   in   quiet  and    laborious 
study,  mingled  with  devout  exercises,  in  the  convent  of 
Cordeliers   in    Paris,   and   in    1245    he   died,  and   was 
buried  within    its   precincts.     He  was   so  learned  and 
eloquent  as   a  teacher  as  to  be  called  by  many  Fans 
Vita,   the  fountain  of  life.      He  was  the  first  of   the 
Schoolmen  who  made  himself   thoroughly  acquainted 
with  the  writings  of  Aristotle  and  his  Arabian  a>mmen- 
tators  ;  but  he  was  afterwards  surpassed   by  Albertus 
Magnus    in    universal    range    of    knowledge     and    in 
comprehensiveness  of  teaching.      He  wrote  many  works, 
only  some  of  which  have  been  preserved,  and  of  these 
a  few  only  have  been  published.      He  wrote  notes  on 
the    Old    and    New    Testaments,    expositions    of    the 
Gospels   of   St  Mark   and   St.   Luke,   the   Epistles  of 
St.  Paul,  the  Books   of  Moses,  the  Judges,  the  Kings, 
the   Psalms,   and  the  minor   Prophets.     His  principal 
work,  in    which  he   gathered  up  his  whole  system    of 
teaching,  was    the    Summa    TIieologicB,    published     at 
Nuremberg  in  1452,  at  Venice  in  1576,  and  at  Cologne 
in  162;;.     It  consisted  of  dissertations  on  the  "Book 
oi  Sentences,"  by  Peter  the  Lombard.     It  was  under- 
taken by  order  of  the  Pope,  and  was  approved  by  him 
and  the  principal  theologians  of  Europe  as  a  system  of 
divinit/  to  be  taught  in  the  schools  of  Christendom.    It 
was  in  the  form  of  a  dialogue,  and  was  rigidly  logical 
in  style  and  treatment.     He  was  called  away  from  his 
earthly  labours  before  he  was  able  to  complete  it,  but 
it  WIS    finished   by   his   pupils,   and   was  published  in 


THE  IRREFRAGABLE  DOCTOR.  179 

1252.  He  adopted  the  divisions  of  the  Lombard,  and 
treated  the  subject  of  theology  in  four  parts  ;  {a)  the 
Deity,  {b)  the  Creation,  (t)  the  Redemption,  {d)  tlio 
Sacraments. 

In  regard  to  the  great  distinguishing  question  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  Alexander  was  a  Realist.  He  teaches 
universaLia  ante  rem,  the  universal  in  the  mind  of  God ; 
the  universalia  not  existing  as  independent  essences 
apart  from  God,  but  constituting  the  causa  exemplaris 
of  things  ;  not  distinct  from  the  causa  efficiens,  but 
being  identical  with  it  in  God.  The  universale  hi  re  is 
the  form  of  things.'  He  insists  that  in  theology  know- 
ledge depends  upon  faith  ;  that  theology  must  first  of 
all  produce  faith,  and  then  that  through  faith  man 
arrives  at  an  intellectual  understanding  of  Divine  things. 
It  is  altogether  different  in  regard  to  scientific  or  philo- 
sophical knowledge  ;  these  require  the  substratum  of 
knowledge  on  which  faith  must  rest.  Faith  is  the 
illuminating  principle  of  the  soul,  and  the  brighter  its 
light  the  more  keen  is  the  apprehension  of  truth. 
Christian  faith  is  only  satisfied  with  really  knowing  its 
object  ;  it  springs  out  of  experience,  and  stands  above 
all  knowledge.  But  reason  has  a  part  to  play  in  the 
exercise  and  development  of  faith.  As  it  is  enlightened 
by  faith,  it  helps  the  believer  to  comprehend  more  clearly 
the  truth  believed  ;  as  he  makes  use  of  the  arguments 
suppliec  by  reason,  his  faith  becomes  strengthened,  so 
that  faith  and  reason  in  their  exercise  are  mutually 
helped  ;  and  in  winning  unbelievers  to  the  faith  reason 
is  called  upon  to  play  an  important  part  by  affording 
proofs  to  a  mind  unwilling  to  be  at  first  satisfied  with 
simple  experience.  He  taught  that  God  is  in  all  things, 
but  is  not  essentially  included  in  them.  He  is  without 
*  Ueberweg,  "  Hist,  of  Phil,"  i  .  434. 


i8o        GREA  T  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDI E  AGES. 

all  thinjT.s,  yet  is  not  absolutely  excluded  from  them. 
"  He  exists  in  things  in  a  threefold  mc^nner,  cssentialiUr, 
pTiZsentialitur,  potentialiter  ;  these  three  modes,  however, 
do  not  differ  in  themselves,  but  only  in  our  idea  of 
thcin."  '  He  refused  to  accept  the  argument  of  Anselm 
for  the  existence  of  God,  and  yet  argued  that  the  idea 
of  God  was  native  or  intuitive  in  man,  in  consequence 
of  the  connection  existing  between  truth  and  his  moral 
nature.  He  affirms  that  the  idea  lies  at  the  foundation 
of  man's  consciousness,  and  is  undeniable  ;  but  as  there 
is  a  twofold  tendency  in  man,  if  he  allow  the  earthly  to 
prevail  he  may  lose  the  consciousness  and  sink  into 
being  the  fool  who  says  in  his  heart  there  is  no  God.' 

Unfortunately  Alexander  led  the  way  in  discussing 
many  trivial  questions  which  subsequent  Scholastics 
took  up  and  multiplied,  pursuing  them  into  endless 
ramifications,  a  course  which  has  irretrievably  damaged 
the  reputation  of  Scholasticism.  He  raised  many 
questions  concerning  the  attributes  of  God,  especially 
as  to  His  love  ;  whether  it  is  identical  when  manifested 
to  His  creatures  or  to  Himself,  or  to  the  Persons  in  the 
Godhead,  etc.  This  habit,  which,  once  beg^n,  was 
likely  to  be  very  infectious,  was  a  great  waste  of  power 
on  the  part  of  writers  of  ability,  and  a  great  drawback 
to  the  utility  and  acceptability  of  their  productions. 

He  did  much  towards  revising  the  prevailing  notions 
on  Ihc  Trinity,  which  verged  closely  upon  Sabellianism, 
from  which,  however,  the  Schoolmen  would  have 
shrunk  back  with  dismay  if  they  had  recognised  the 
tendency  of  their  views.  Discussing  at  length  the 
subject  of  the  Generation  of  the  Son,  he  drew  many 
.-caicely  perceptible  distinctions  between  generation 
tnntt.Tia!,  original,  and  ordinal,  and  concluded  by  afflrm- 
'  Hagcnbach,  '•  Hist,  of  DocK."  i.,  489  ''  Note  A. 


THE  IRKEFRAGADLi:  DOCTOK.  iSl 

ing  thdt  by  the  laiigu.i<^c  "  begotten  of  the  Father,"  it 
is  only  intendeil  to  teach  th?.t  the  nature  of  the  Father 
and  the  Son  are  identical,  lie  believed  that  every 
individual  creature  possesses  its  own  perfection,  although 
it  might  appear  imperfect  when  compared  witl\  the 
whole.  In  writing  concerning  the  angels,  he  said  that 
whilst  some  fell  from  their  first  estate,  the  great  majority 
preserved  theii  purity  and  happiness.  The  angels  are 
able  to  exert  some  inHuencc  upon  the  material  world, 
although  the  influence  does  not  extend  so  far  as  to  enable 
them  to  work  miracles.  Tlie  fall  of  man  involved  his 
deprivation  of  the  Ih'vine  righteousness  he  had  pie- 
viously  possessed  ;  and  on  the  ground  of  the  satisfac- 
tion rendered  to  Divine  justice  by  the  death  of  Clir\-)t, 
it  is  restored  to  him  again. 

He  introduced  into  the  theology  of  Scholasticism 
the  notion  of  Fate,  which  he  defined  to  be  the  co-opera- 
tion of  all  causes  directed  by  a  higher  law.  By  this  he 
did  not  intend  to  infringe  upon  the  notion  of  free  will, 
because  he  reckoned  it  to  be  one  of  the  co  operating 
causes.  By  Fate,  all  cau.ses  free  and  natural  work 
together  in  their  proper  relations,  and  the  actions  of 
free  will  are  only  controlled  by  the  connection  in  which 
they  stand  to  other  causes.  He  thi>ught  that  evil 
served  to  contribute  to  the  general  perfection  of  the 
universe,  inasmuch  as  it  displayed  in  fullest  measure 
the  essential  excellence  of  goodness.  He  taught  that 
man  was  originally  created  in  a  state  purely  human, 
and  that  the  Divine  likeness  was  afterwards  added, 
being  thus  an  accidental  and  not  an  essential  [K^rtion 
of  the  man,  and  showing  the  distinction  between  a 
state  of  nature  and  a  state  of  grace  even  in  man 
primaeval.  Grace  was  not  created  in  man,  but  was 
reserved  until  by  reason   he  had   become  fit  to  re«.ci\e 


tS2      grea  t  schoolmen  of  the  middle  ages. 

it.  On  the  subject  of  the  sinner's  justification,  he 
taught  that  no  certain  knowledge  was  vouchsafed,  be- 
cause Divine  grace  did  not  come  within  the  circle  of 
knowledge,  either  as  to  its  cause  or  mode,  and  a  man 
could  only  judge  of  his  salvation  by  the  measure  of 
light,  peace,  and  joy  he  experienced  inwardly.  The 
uncertainty  arising  from  this  condition  he  considered 
v/ould  have  a  helpful  effect  upon  the  believer  by  lead- 
ing him  to  greater  watchfulness,  and  by  supplying  an 
urgent  stimulus  to  constant  progress.  He  strongly 
dissented  from  the  view  of  Augustine  and  other  Church 
teachers  concerning  the  freedom  o^  man  and  the  opera- 
tion of  Divine  grace  on  the  soul,  and  taught  that  the 
measure  of  grace  received  by  the  soul  was  entirely 
conditioned  by  the  willingness  or  otherwise  of  the  soul 
to  receive  it.' 

He  agreed  with  some  of  his  predecessors  in  affirm- 
ing the  validity  of  the  seven  sacraments  adopted  subse- 
quently by  the  Councils  of  the  Church,  but  had  the 
candour  to  admit  that  Baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper 
had  been  alone  instituted  by  the  Redeemer,  whilst  the 
others  derived  their  appointment  and  authority  from 
the  Apostles  and  priests  of  the  Church; 

Some  of  the  sayings  preserved  of  him  breatlie  a 
fervent  piety  and  a  tender  spirit.  The  folloMang  are 
but  a  sample  of  many  similar  passages  which  might  be 
quoted  : — 

"  Charity  in  the  soul  of  a  man  is  like  the  sun  in  the  firmament, 
which  spreads  his  beams  upwards,  downwards;  upwards  to- 
wards God,  the  angels,  saints ;  downwards  to  the  creatures, 
especially  the  poor,  that  are  good ;  and  as  the  sun  shines  upon 
the  good  and  bad,  so  true  charity  dilates  its  beams  over  its 
enemies." — "  Destruct.  Virior,"  p.  vii.,  ch.  xii.,  3. 

"A  soul  patient  for  wrongs  offered  is  like  a  man  with  a 
»  Note  B. 


THK  IRKEfRAGABLE  DOCTOR.  183 

sword  in  one  hand  and  salve  in  another ;  could  wound,  but 
will  heal." — IHd.,  p.  vi.,  ch.  xxvi. 

**  What  the  eye  is  to  the  body,  that  faith  is  to  the  soul ;    tis 
good  for  direction  if  it  be  well  kept;  as  flies  do  hurt  the  eye,  so    • 
do  little  sin*  and  ill  thoughts  the  soul." — Ibid.,  p.  vi.,  ch.  xxxii. 

Alexander  manifested  throughout  all  his  writings 
great  independence  of  mind.  He  showed  a  strong 
tendency  to  break  away  from  rigid  Augustinianism  and 
the  trammels  of  mere  ecclesiasticism  ;  and  he  did  much 
to  vindicate  the  right  of  reason,  to  consider  and  judge 
on  all  matters  of  belief. 

Note  A 
"Yet,"  he  remarks,  "it  does  not  follow  from  this  fundamental 
relation  that  all  men  become  conscious  to  themselves  of  the  idea  of 
God,  and  that  it  meets  with  recognition  from  them  as  an  actual 
reality;  for  with  regard  to  this  knowledge  in  act  {cogniiio  in  uctu), 
we  must  distinguish  two  separate  tendencies  of  the  soul,  according 
as  either  the  higher  faculty  of  reason  is  developed  and  active  in  it, 
and  it  is  directed  upon  that  original  revelation  of  God,  hence  per- 
ceives it.  since  the  mind  cannot  avoid  being  conscious  of  that  which 
is  the  principle  of  its  own  essence — or  the  lower  powers  only  are 
active,  as  in  the  case  of  the  soul  ihat  surrenders  itself  to  earthly 
things  when  the  consciousness  of  God  is  repressed  in  it  by  this 
predominantly  worldly  tendency,— and  so  the  fool  may  deny  the 
existence  of  Qo^y —Neander,  "  Church  Hist.,"  viii.,  204. 

Note  B. 
"Alexander  of  Hales  says:— 'All  men  are  found  to  be  alike 
corrupt.  No  one  can  make  himself  fit  for  heaven.  God  wills 
according  to  His  highest  love  to  save  men,  to  communicate  to  them 
Himself ;  but  it  is  presupposed  that  there  is  a  reci|.-iency,  so  far  as 
this  is  grounded  in  the  moral  powers  still  remammg  to  man.  The 
light  shines  everywhere  ;  but  its  rays  do  not  find  everywhere  a 
material  susceptible  of  illumination.  No  one  can  render  himself 
sufficiently  susceptible  tor  the  reception  of  grace,  unless  God  Him- 
self makes  him  fit  for  it  by  His  own  irvard  operation.  But  if  he 
only  does  what  it  depends  on  himself  to  do,  the  Di\nne  frace  ensues, 
by  which  he  is  prepared  for  the  reception  of  grace" — Xt:niid^r, 
"  Church  Hist.,"  viii.,  305. 


CHAPTER    XII. 
THE  SERAPHICAL  DOCTOR,  DONA  VENTURA. 


"  Rapt  with  the  rage  of  mine  own  ravished  thought, 
Through  contemplation  of  those  goodly  sights, 
And  glorious  images  in  heaven  wrought, 
Whose  wondrous  beauty,  breathing  sweet  delights, 
Do  kindle  love  in  high-conceited  sprites, 
I  fain  to  tell  the  things  which  I  behold. 
But  feel  my  wits  to  fail,  and  tongue  to  fold. 

"  Vouchsafe  then,  O  Thou  most  Almighty  Sprite  ! 
From  whom  all  gifts  of  wit  and  knowledge  flow, 
To  shed  into  my  breast  some  sparkling  light 
Of  thine  eternal  truth,  that  I  may  show 
Some  litrle  beams  to  mortal  eyes  below 
Of  that  immortal  beauty  there  with  Thee, 
Which  in  my  weak  distraughted  mind  I  see." 

— Spenser. 


XII. 

THE  SERAPHICAL  DOCTOR,  BONAVENTURA. 

John  of  Fidanza,  commonly  called  Bonaventura,  was 
bom  at  Bagnarea,  near  Viterbo,  in  Italy,  in  122  i.  His 
father  was  named  Johannes  Fidantius,  and  his  mother 
Ritelia  ;  they  were  both  descended  from  noble  families 
of  Tuscany  ;  both  were  wealthy,  and  had  a  fragrant 
reputation  for  sanctity  and  charity.  The  son  was  early 
devoted  to  the  Church  by  his  saintly  mother,  but  in  his 
infancy  it  is  said  he  had  an  illness  so  severe  in  its 
character  that  his  life  was  despaired  of.  In  her  agony 
the  good  Ritelia  carried  him  to  St.  Francis  of  Assisi, 
who  by  his  faith  and  prayers  was  the  instrument  of 
his  restoration,  and  as  he  was  recovering  gave  him  back 
to  his  mother  with  the  words,  "O  buona  ventura  !" 
from  whence  came  his  well-known  name  in  history. 
From  childhood  he  showed  a  disposition,  not  only  to 
cultivate  piety,  but  many  branches  of  learning  ;  as  a 
boy  he  delighted  in  visiting  the  poor  and  the  sick,  and 
in  practising  methods  tending  to  promote  lowliness  of 
mind.  In  his  twenty-second  year  he.  like  Alexander 
of  Hales,  took  the  vows  of  the  Order  of  St.  Francis, 
and  thus  added  one  more  to  the  brilliant  names  which 
were  to  make  the  Mendicant  Orders  for  ever  famous. 
He  is  described  as  having  been  of  tall  stature,  of  grave 


iSS         CRFAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

and  winning  countenance,  and  of  so  healtliy  a  consti- 
tution that  after  his  childhood  he  scarcely  sutTered  from 
a  touch  of  sickness  duiing  his  life.  He  is  said,  but 
with  much  improbability,  to  have  studied  under 
Albertus  Magnus  ;  it  is  more  likely  that  he  listened  to 
the  lectures  of  Alexander  of  Hales  at  Paris  ;  and  it  is 
ctirtain  that  he  attended  the  classes  of  John  of  Rochelle, 
the  successor  of  Alexander.  He  rapidly  became  famous, 
.'md  in  1250  he  gained  immense  applause  by  a  series  of 
cUx[ucnt  and  learned  lectures  he  gave  on  the  *'Book  of 
Sentences,"  by  the  Lombard.  In  1253  he  occupied 
the  chair  of  his  teacher,  John  of  Rochelle,  in  the 
University,  and  in  1255  he  was  honoured  by  re- 
ceiving his  degree  as  Doctor.  He  laboured  with 
unremitting  industry,  familiarising  himself  with  the 
writings  of  the  great  Church  Fathers,  and  studying 
the  clas;iic  authors  of  Greece  and  Rome,  the  former 
no  doubt  in  tiieir  Latin  garb,  although  one  of  his 
biographers  says  he  read  them  in  their  Attic  purity. 
It  is  said  he  framed  a  collection  of  ''  Sentences  "  from 
the  Fathers  after  the  manner  of  Robert  Pullein  and 
Lctcr  LcMubard  ;  that  he  twice  copied  out  the  whole 
ol  the  IJible  ;  that  he  several  times  copied  out  the 
history  (jf  Lhucydides  and  the  orations  of  Demos- 
thenes ;  and  that  these,  which  in  themselves  are  not 
specially  edifying,  are  only  a  small  portion  of  his 
intellectual  and  spiritual  exercises.  So  renowned  and 
beloved  did  he  become,  that  in  1256  he  was  appointed 
the  principal  of  the  great  Franciscan  Order,  and  at 
once  he  devoted  himself  with  untiring  ardour  to  re- 
storing purity  of  life,  more  rigid  discipline,  and  atten- 
tion to  the  vow  of  poverty — all  of  which  had  been 
bcrie.u^ly  neglected  since  the  death  of  St.  Francis.  Such 
was  his  zeal  in  these  directions  that  he  effected  a  great 


THE  sEKAPiircAr.  doctor.  189 

reformation.  He  was  offered  the  Archbishopric  -if 
York  by  Pope  Clement  IV.,  but  he  was  too  much 
devoted  to  the  interests  of  his  ()rderand  to  his  favourite 
studies  to  allow  himself  to  become  a  mere  ecclesiastical 
politician  and  administrator.  He  therefore  refused  the 
tempting  bait. 

He  did  not  close  hi.s  eyes  to  all  that  was  Sfoinj^  on 
in  the  outward  world  ;  he  was  aroused  by  rumours 
then  becoming  current  of  the  magical  arts  and  hert;tir.d 
tendencies  of  Roger  Bacon,  who  was  a  monk  of 
the  Order  ;  he  obtained  an  interdict  against  liis 
lecturing  at  Oxford,  and  an  order  that  he  should  repair 
to  Paris  so  as  to  be  under  careful  supervision.  JJacon 
submitted  to  this,  and  for  ten  years  resided  in  Paris, 
abstaining  from  public  demonr-tration,  enduring  such 
constraint  that  his  life  during  that  period  was  little 
else  than  a  painful  imprisonment,  and  fretting  his  noble 
heart  against  the  shameful  and  unnatural  yoke  laid 
upon  him.  The  chair  of  St.  Peter  had  been  vacant 
about  fifteen  years,  and  Bonaventura,  on  the  death  of 
St.  Louis,  King  of  France,  actively  laboured  to  .secure 
the  election  of  a  new  Pope.  He  was  the  chief  instru- 
ment in  the  appointment  of  Gregory  X.  in  1272,  wiio,  in 
return,  induced  him  to  accent  a  Cardinal's  hat,  installed 
him  as  Bishop  of  Albano,  and  imperatively  ordered  hi? 
presence  at  the  Council  of  Lyons  in  1274.  Durin-;- 
the  sessions  of  this  Council  he  was  summoned  from  his 
earthly  honours  and  labours,  and  passed  away  probably 
more  esteemed  and  loved  than  any  man  of  his  gcneid- 
tion.  A  funeral  of  extreme  magnificence,  attended  by 
Pope,  Emperor,  and  King,  a  conjunction  of  dignitarit-s 
rarely  if  ever  again  occurring  in  history  on  such  an 
occasion,  testified  to  the  extraordinary  estimation  in 
which  he  was  held. 


190         GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

His  works  were  very  numerous  ;  an  edition  of  them 
in  seven  folio  volumes  was  published  at  the  Vatican  in 
1588,  and  numerous  other  editions  of  them  have  ap- 
peared. They  consisted  of  two  volumes  of  expositions 
of  the  Scriptures,  one  of  Sermons  and  "  Lives  of  the 
Saints,"  two  of  lectures  on  the  "  Book  of  Sentences," 
and  three  of  various  shorter  treatises. 

It  is  said  that  a  close  and  affectionate  friendship 
existed  between  him  and  Thomas  Aquinas  ;  one  story 
has  been  preserved  of  them  which  is  of  touching 
interest.  Thomas  asked  on  one  occasion  to  see  the 
library  from  which  Bonaventui'a  had  derived  his  extra- 
ordinary stores  of  learning.  His  friend  pointed  to  a 
crucifix,  and  replied  that  all  he  knew  he  had  learned 
there.  A  number  of  miracles  were  alleged  to  have 
been  performed  by  him  ;  but  as  to  these  one  of  his 
biographers  says,  wisely  and  significantly,  '*  T  force  not 
any  man's  belief."  His  life  was  so  blameless,  and  his 
piety  so  pure  and  radiant,  that  his  great  learning  de- 
rived additional  lustre  from  these;  and  he  seems  to 
have  really  merited  the  title  bestowed  upon  him  of 
*'  the  Seraphical  Doctor."  He  was  canonised  by  Pope 
Sixtus  IV.  in  1482  ;  and,  as  is  well  known,  Dante 
accorded  him  a  high  and  honourable  place  in  his 
"  Paradiso." 

As  a  thinker  and  writer  he  occupies  a  distinct  niche 
in  the  history  of  Scholasticism,  and  that  a  place  both 
of  high  honour  and  of  great  prominence.  Concerning 
the  question  oi  "  Universals,"  which  was  the  theme  at 
the  basis  of  nearly  all  the  discussions  of  the  School- 
men, and  which  gave  the  distinguishing  tone  or  tinge 
to  their  philosophic  thinking,  he  believed,  with  Plato, 
that  they  were  ideal  forms  existing  in  the  Divine 
mind,  and  that  they  were  the  patterns  from  which  all 


THE  SERAPHJCAL  DOCTOR.  if)i 

existing  things  were  shaped.  Thus  he  takes  rank 
amongst  the  great  Reahstsof  Scholasticism,  although 
he  diverges,  as  will  be  seen,  from  the  leading  thinkers  of 
that  School ;  and,  inspired  largely  by  the  pietistic  ten- 
dencies of  his  nature,  he  drifts  into  Mysticism,  and 
stands  side  by  side  with  such  honourable  company  as 
Bernard  of  Clarvaux,  the  Monks  of  St.  Victor,  and  the 
famous  Gerson,  Chancellor  of  the  University  of  Paris. 
He  followed  his  teacher  Alexander  of  Hales  as  to 
the  relation  existing  between  reason  and  faith.  He 
distinguished  between  the  material  reason  and  the 
reason  exalted  by  faith,  to  the  latter  of  which  is  im- 
parted, by  the  illuminating  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
a  knowledge  of  Divine  things.  The  natural  reason 
may  become  acquainted  with  some  of  the  great  moral 
truths  on  which  all  religion  must  finally  rest,  but  the 
specific  truths  of  the  Christian  system  it  can  only  know 
when  the  reason  is  rendered  lustrous  with  Divine  know- 
ledge, to  obtain  which  the  soul  must  use  appropriate 
means — as  prayer,  the  practice  of  the  highest  virtues, 
and  the  calm  contemplation  of  God  whereby  it  rises 
into  union  with  Him.  In  his  most  famous  and  much 
admired  book,  called  "the  Itinerary  of  the  Soul  to 
God,"  which  is  as  much  a  handbook  of  devotion  as  a 
treatise  of  theology,  he  defines  four  degrees  of  light  by 
which  we  may  rise  to  union  with  God,  viz.,  the  external, 
the  inferior,  the  internal,  and  the  superior.  By  the 
first  we  learn  the  mechanical  arts  ;  by  the  second  we 
perceive  individuals  ;  by  the  third  we  rise  to  Universals 
in  conception  ;  and  by  the  fourth  we  see  Universals  in 
reality  or  in  God.  Bonaventura  thus  sought  to  soar  to 
the  highest  height ;  he  said  tliat  ti\e  suj^rcme  end  of 
life  is  union  with  God,  union  in  absorbing,  intense, 
passionate    love.      In    the    contemplation    of   God    he 


192         GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OE  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

taught  that  the  mind  passed  through  three  grades  :  the 
senses,  aflfording  knowledge  of  outward  things ;  the 
reason,  which  looks  within  and  subjects  itself  to  ex- 
amination ;  and  the  pure  intellect,  which  by  an  unspeak- 
able effort  grasps  the  very  Being  or  Essence  of  the 
Almighty.  To  this  idea  of  Absolute  Being  he  ascribed 
objective  existence.  In  his  rapturous  descriptions  of 
the  union  of  the  soul  with  the  one  Absolute  Essence  in 
God,  he  hovers  dangerously  over  the  abyss  of  Pantheism, 
if  indeed,  but  unconscicuisly,  he  does  not  fall  into  it. 
He  docs  indeed  partly  save  himself  from  this  position 
by  seeking  to  draw  a  distinction  between  the  soul  and 
God  ;  and  yet  the  practical  tendency  of  his  teaching 
would  lead  to  the  logical  conclusion  that  the  soul  by 
absorbed  meditation  and  beatific  ecstasy  becomes  merged 
in  the  Absolute  Essence. 

As  to  the  general  doctrinal  notions  of  Bonaventura, 
not  much  needs  to  be  said,  as  he  adhered  with  rigorous 
scrupulousness  to  the  general  teaching  of  the  Church. 
On  a  few  points  he  advanced  views  somewhat  antago- 
nistic to  those  adopted  by  Aquinas  and  others.  In 
arguing  the  question,  whether  the  end  of  the  creation 
was  the  glory  of  God  or  the  good  of  the  creatures,  he 
decided  in  favour  of  the  former  ;  urging,  however,  that 
there  really  could  be  no  increase  of  the  Divine  Glory, 
but  only  a  manifestation  of  it  to  the  creatures,  and  a 
participation  in  it  by  them,  and  that  thus  the  highest 
good  is  secured.  He  also  may  be  said  to  have  brought 
into  prominence  the  nation  previously  taught  by 
Alexander  of  Hales,  and  revived  in  some  modern 
systems  of  theology,  that  the  primaeval  blessedness  of 
man  consisted  in  certain  chartered  gifts  being  bestowed 
on  him,  which  were  forfeited  and  lost  by  the  commis- 
sion  of  sin  ;  these  blessings  are  restored  through  the 


THE  SEKAPIIICAL  DOCTOR.  193 

merit  of  the  sacrifice  of  Christ.  Upon  the  subject  of 
the  Atonement  he  occupied  a  position  about  rhidway 
between  Thomas  Aquinas  and  Duns  Scotus;  for  whereas 
the  former  said  that  there  was  superabounding  merit  in 
the  death  of  Christ,  the  latter  held  that  it  was  deficient 
in  real  merit,  but  accepted  by  God  as  being  sufficient. 
Bonaventura  taught  that  it  was  perfect  and  all-sufficient 
as  a  substitutionary  offering  for  sin.  As  to  the  appro- 
priation of  the  blessings  of  salvation;  he  held  that  the 
grace  of  God  was  measured  by  the  susceptibility  of 
man  to  that  which  was  good,  a  view  which  was  sub- 
sequently taken  up  and  expanded  by  later  Schoolmen 
until  it  emerged  into  the  theory  of  the  meritoriousness 
of  good  works. 

The  greatest  blemish  of  the  theology  of  Bonaventura 
was  his  fervent  and  rapturous  worship  of  the  Virgin 
Mary.  This,  whilst  much  to  be  lamented,  was  to  be 
accounted  for  by  the  intensity  and  tenderness  of  his 
nature,  which  of  necessity,  led  him  to  cling  with 
passionate  ardour  to  such  an  object  of  adoration  as 
was  presented  by  the  Church  in  the  Virgin,  the  ideal 
embodiment  of  purity  and  affection.  Protestants  of  a 
certain  school  may  not  understand  this;  but  it  is  only 
fair  to  bear  in  mind  that  the  human  side  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  had  not  been  recognised  by  the  Mediaeval  Church, 
and  that  the  Christian  consciousness  had  no  such  com- 
plete and  glorious  view  of  the  Lord  Jesus  as  belongs  to 
Christians  of  the  nineteenth  century.  The  view  pre- 
sented of  the  Lord  Jesus  was  a  mangled  or  imperfect 
view.  He  was  seen  as  a  helpless  babe  on  His  mother's 
knee,  or  as  an  agonised  sufferer  on  the  cross;  and  all 
the  rich  lessons  of  His  human  life  in  the  intermediate 
years  were  overlooked  ;  and  especially  what  may  be 
called  XhQ  feminine  side  of  .His  character,  the  side  that 

13 


i<>1        GREAT'  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

forms  lIto  greatest  charm  in  all  men  of  supreme  influ- 
ence and  character,  was  totally  unrecognised.  Thus 
the  ardent  sympathetic  reh'gious  instinct  strove  to  fill 
up  the  blank  as  best  it  could,  and  placed  the  Virgin 
before  it  as  an  object  of  devout  enthusiasm  and  of 
passionate  love,  ft  is  vain  to  blame  Bonaventura  and 
others  like  him  because  they  were  unable  to  rise  above 
their  limitations  and  to  supply  what  was  lacking  of 
Christ  in  the  apprehension  of  the  age.  We  have  to 
accept  men  as  we  find  them,  with  certain  constitutions 
and  surroundings,  to  consider  the  possibilities  of  the 
case,  and  if  we  lament  that  such  men  were  the  victims 
of  religious  vagaries,  or  of  partial  representation  of  the 
truth,  seeking  to  piece  out  the  deficiencies  with  the 
material  nearest  to  hand,  let  us  remember  that  they 
did  not  create  their  circumstances,  and  that  on  the 
whole  thc}'  did  their  best,  often  a  noble  best,  to  glorify 
God  and  to  promote  the  kingdom  of  truth.  It  has 
taken  the  centuries  filled  up  by  the  names  of  Aquinas, 
Bcllarmine,  Luther,  Calvin,  Jeremy  Taylor,  Wes-ley, 
Edward  Irving,  and  F.  W.  Robertson,  to  develop  the 
enlarged  and  enlarging  view  of  the  full  Christ  which 
dilates  and  brightens  in  the  literature  of  the  present 
age. 

Bonaventura  seems  never  to  have  wearied  in  con- 
templating the  passion  of  Christ,  and  in  adoring  the 
virtues  of  the  Virgin,  inasmuch  as  in  these  exercises  he 
was  said  to  have  surpassed  his  master  St.  Francis.  He 
united  in  himself  the  ascetic  and  the  pietist,  the  Mystic 
and  the  Scholastic.  He  combined  so  many  points  of 
interest  and  such  various  characteristics  that  he  has 
been  a  most  attractive  figure  in  the  history  of  the 
Romish  Church.  His  name  is  richly  fragrant  to  a 
crowd  of  admirers,  and  he  is  reckoned  higher  in  general 


THE  SKRAPHICAL  DOCTOR.  195 

esteem  than  many  who  surpassed  him  both  in  erudi- 
tion and  in  dialectical  skill  ;  the  charm  of  his  reputa- 
tion seems  mainly  to  lie  in  the  fact  that  whilst 
being  truly  a  Scholastic,  he  diffused  through  the  hard- 
ness and  formalism  of  the  Scholastic  method  tlic 
beautiful  and  romantic  glow  of  Mysticism,'  and  hence 
became  a  bright  luminary  in  that  galaxy  of  saintly 
names  which  sheds  its  brightness  through  the  centuries 
extending  from  Bernard  in  the  eleventh  century  to 
Fenelon  in  the  seventeenth.  His  character,  his  earthly 
labours,  his  writings,  are  all  suffused  with  a  transfigur- 
ing glow  of  holy  lustre  ;  such  was  the  impression  pro- 
duced on  his  contemporaries  by  his  beautiful  saintliness 
that  Alexander  of  Hales  said  of  him,  "  In  bro!:her 
Bonaventura  the  old  Adam  seems  to  have  had  no 
place.*"  A  more  valuable  testimony  to  human  ex- 
cellence perhaps  was  never  uttered,  save  that  which 
came  from  Divine  lips  concerning  a  character  of  simple 
devoutness  :  "  Behold,  an  Israelite  indeed,  in  whom  is 
no  guile."     O  si  sic  omnia. 


Note  A. 
"  In  autem,  O  amice  circa  mysticas  Aasiones  corroborate  itinere 
et  sensus  desere  et  intellectuales  operationes,  et  sensibilia,  e  invisi- 
bilia,  et  omne  non  ens  et  ens  et  ad  unitHtem,  ut  possibile  est,  inscius 
restituere  ipsius,  qui  est  super  omnem  essentiam  et  scientiam," — 
"  Itin.  T>Ientat  Deum,"  2,  5,  7.     Quoted  by  Milman,  ix.,  140. 

Note  B. 
"  Bonaventura  resolves  all  science  into  union  with  God.  The 
successive  attainment  of  various  kinds  of  knowledge  is,  in  his 
system,  an  approximation,  stage  above  stage,  to  God — a  scaling  01 
the  heights  of  illumination,  as  we  are  more  closely  united  with  the 
Divine  Word, — the  repertory  of  ideas." — Vaughan,  "Hours  with 
the  Mystics,"  ii.,  150. 

'  Note  B. 

•  "  In  fratre  Bonaventura,  Adam  pccavisse  non  videtur." 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE  ANGELICAL  DOCTCR-^THOMAS  AQUINAS. 


"  When  I  myself  from  mine  own  self  do  quit, 
And  each  thing  else  ;  then  all  spreaden  love 
To  the  vast  universe  my  soul  doth  fit, 
Makes  me  half  equal!  to  all-seeing  Jove. 
My  mighty  wings  high  stretched,  then  clapping  light, 
I  brusli  the  stars  and  make  them  shine  more  bright. 

'  *  Then  all  the  works  of  God  lA^ith  close  embrace 
I  dearly  hug  in  my  enlarged  arms. 
All  the  hid  pathes  of  heavenly  love  I  trace. 
And  boldly  listen  to  His  secret  charms. 
Then  clearly  view  I  where  true  light  doth  rise, 
And  where  eternal  Night  low  pressed  lies." — Henry  More. 

"  A  palace  is  measured  from  east  to  west,  oi  from  north  to  south,  but  a 
book  is  measured  from  earth  to  heaven." — ^JouBERT. 


XIII. 

THE  ANGELICAL  DOCTOR— THOMAS  AQUINAS. 

Thomas  Aquinas  was  the  son  of  LanJulf,  Count  of 
Aquino,  in  Sicily.  He  was  born  in  the  family  castle  of 
Rocca,  Sicca,  in  1225  or  1227.  He  was  nobly  connected 
through  his  parents  on  both  sides,  and  could  even  claim 
kinship  with  some  of  the  royal  houses  o'l  Europe.  His 
mother,  Theodora,  was  of  the  royal  line  of  Normandy, 
and  by  marriage  his  parents  had  become  related  to  the 
great  house  of  Hohenstaufen,  His  brothers  rose  to  very 
high  rank  as  generals  under  the  Emperor  Frederick  II., 
and  his  sisters  also  occupied'  noble  positions,  three  of 
them  marrying  Counts  and  one  becoming  an  Abbess. 
He  was  sent  in  early  childhood  to  be  educated  at  the 
convent  of  Monte  Cassino,  and  from  the  age  of  ten  to 
sixteen  he  studied  at  the  university  of  Naples.  There 
he  became  acquainted  with  the  Order  of  St.  Dominic, 
which  at  this  time  was  assiduously  pushing  its  way  into 
unrivalled  notoriety,  and  was  pressing  into  its  service 
all  the  young  men  of  talent  it  could  influence.  To  his 
taking  the  vows  of  this  Order  his  parents  and  family 
offered  the  sternest  opposition,  and  fearing  that  he  might 
be  over  persuaded  by  their  influence,  the  monks  sent 
him  to  Rome.  His  mother  discovered  his  refuge,  and 
then  the   Dominicans   sent  him    to    France.      On   the 


200         GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

journey  thither,  ashe  and  his  companions  rested  by  the 
side  of  a  well,  they  were  surprised  by  a  band  of  soldiers, 
which  had  been  sent  in  pursuit  of  him  by  his  brothers, 
and  he  was  carried  a  prisoner  to  his  father's  castle.  He 
resolutely  resisted  the  imploring  and  affectionate  solici- 
tations of  his  mother  and  sisters  to  abjure  the  Order 
which  had  cast  its  glamour  over  him,  and  it  is  even 
recorded  that  a  beautiful  courtezan  was  introduced 
stealthily  into  his  chamber  by  his  brothers  to  tempt 
him  to  break  his  vow  of  chastity.  She  professed  to 
have  sought  him  to  obtain  pious  consolation,  but 
speedily  broke  from  the  pretext,  and  exerted  all  the 
arts  of  womanly  endearment  to  win  his  love.  The  virtue 
of  Thomrvs  was  proof  against  even  such  an  attack  as 
this  ;  suddenly  collecting  his  resolution,  he  pulled  a 
burning  stake  out  of  the  fire  on  the  hearth,  and  with 
indignant  rudeness  scared  her  from  the  apartment 
Then  he  threw  himself  before  the  crucifix  and  prayed 
for  strength  both  to  resist  temptation  and  to  be  entirely 
devoted  to  the  cause  of  his  Master.  Finding  it  equally 
impossible  to  move  him  from  his  purpose  either  by  the 
allurements  of  beauty  or  by  the  entreaties  of  affection, 
his  parents  ceased  to  oppose  him  ;  they  connived  at  his 
escape  from  confinement,  he  donned  the  habit  6f  the 
great  preaching  Order,  and  took  its  irrevocable  vows. 
He  went  to  Cologne  and  thence  to  Paris,  where  he 
listened  to  the  lectures  given  by  the  intellectual  magnate 
of  the  day,  Albertus  Magnus,  for  four  years,  this  being 
the  term  of  probation  each  had  to  serve  who  intended 
to  teach  Theology  in  connection  with  the  Dominicans. 
He  is  described  at  this  time  as  being  humble,  modest, 
bashful,  obedient,  grave,  indu'strious,  absorbed  in  pro- 
found meditation,  surrounded  with  such  impenetrable 
shyness  and  reserve  at;  to  be  reproached  with  stupidity. 


THE  ANGELICAL  DOCTOR.  20l 

7  Iiese  characteristics  being  combined  with  a  huge  frame, 
massive  h'mbs,  and  a  heavy  cast  of  countenance,  obtained 
for  him  the  mocking  epithet  of  "  the  great  mute  ox  of 
Sicily."  But  Albert  heard  how  on  a  certain  day  he  had 
silenced  and  convinced  some  individuals  who  had  pre- 
sumed to  instruct  him.  He  called  for  him,  questioned 
him  on  many  of  the  most  abstruse  points  of  philosophy 
and  theology,  and  confessed  that  he  had  found  his  equal 
or  superior.  Then  he  said  to  those  who  mocked  at 
him  that  "  the  mute  ox,  as  they  Called  him,  would  one 
day  fill  the  whole  world  with  his  roaring." 

While  he  was  in  Paris  pursuing  his  studies  with 
indefatigable  zeal,  the  great  university  which  had  filled 
Christendom  with  its  fame  was  passing  through  a  critical 
experience.  Students  of  the  mediaeval  age  were  not 
more  docile  and  orderly  than  some  of  the  students  in 
the  university  towns  of  England  in  this  nineteenth  cen- 
tury. In  1229,  a  body  of  them  had  indulged  in  a 
drunken  riot,  and  committed  great  outrages  on  some  of 
the  citizens  of  Paris.  In  retaliation,  the  police  of  the 
city  attacked  and  subjected  to  violence  many  members 
of  the  university  who  had  been  in  no  way  concerned  in 
the  matter.  The  professors  and  doctors  took  great 
offence  at  the  treatment  to  which  these  had  been  sub- 
jected, and  required  satisfaction  from  the  authorities. 
This  being  refused,  they  summarily  dissolved  their 
classes  ;  both  teachers  and  students  dispersed,  many 
came  to  England,  and  others  settled  in  various  cities 
on  the  Continent.  The  opportunity  of  the  Dominican 
monks  had  come;  taking  advantage  of  the  lull  in  the 
university  teaching,  they  established  a  lectureship  of 
Theology.  The  Pope  sought  earnestly  to  resuscitate 
the  university  staff,  but  the  ecclesiastical  authorities  in 
Paris,  having  long  experienced  that  the  university  inter- 


202  GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

fered  greatly  with  their  power  and  prestige,  opposed  his 
efTcrts  with  pertinacioiis  zeal.  Howc/er,  in  1231  the 
Pope  issued  a  Bull,  restoring  ihe  university  and  declaring 
a  code  of  rules  for  it,  some  of  which  showv'^d  that  a  more 
liberal  spirit  had  beg-un  to  prevail  through  the  influeiice 
of  the  Dominicans.  The  orders  prohibiting  the  works 
of  Aristotle  were  relaxed,  but  even  then  only  such  of 
his  works  were  allowed  as  had  been  examined  by  com- 
petent clerical  authorities,  and  purged  of  error.  Thus 
the  old  order  of  the  university  passed  away,  and 
although  the  procedure  of  the  Pope  did  not  aim  at  the 
aggrandisement  of  the  Dominicans,  it  resulted  in  them 
becoming  the  domJnant  thcolog-cal  teachers  in  the 
famous  seat  of  philosophy,  and  out  of  them  came  shortly 
another  order,  called  Jacobins,  who  might  be  called  the 
democrats  of  the  religious  orders.  In  1252,  such 
jealousy  of  their  power  had  accumulated  that  a  majority 
of  the  learned  doctors  succeeded  in  enacting  a  rule,  that 
no  member  of  a  religious  order  should  be  admitted 
amongst  them  who  did  not  belong  to  a  college,  and  that 
each  college  of  the  religious  orders  should  be  permitted 
to  have  only  one  Doctor  and  one  School.  Shortly 
after  this,  the  authorities  of  the  city  and  the  professors 
of  the  university  were  involved  in  another  dispute. 
Again  the  professors  abandoned  their  duties,  and  swore 
that  until  satisfaction  was  made  to  them  they  would 
never  teach  again.  Two  of  the  Jacobin  teachers  refused 
to  take  the  oath,  and  the  university  decided  that  they 
should  not  be  allowed  to  occupy  the  position  of  mastf^r 
or  doctor  any  longer.  A  fierce  and  bitter  controversy 
ensued,  the  Pope  v/as  called  upon  to  engage  in  the 
affray  ;  he  issued  a  Bull  rebuking  tlie  Mendicants,  and 
sustaining  the  authority  of  the  university,  and  almiOst 
immediately  following  this  act  he  was  seized  by  death. 


THE  ANGELICAL  DOCTOR.  203 

The  Dominicans  piously  professed    that  his  death  re- 
sulted as  an  answer  to  their  pra)'crs. 

The  new  Pope,  Alexander  IV.,  made  it  his  first  act 
to  annul  the  Bull  of  his  infallible  predecessor.  He 
promoted  the.  monks  to  their  former  position,  and 
affirmed  to  them  all  their  previous  privileges.  The 
Doctors  of  the  University  rebelled  against  the  decree, 
and  William  of  St.  Amour,  a  man  of  great  learning  and 
eloquence,  maintained  but  in  vain  the  cause  of  the 
University.  On  his  return  from  Rome  after  his  un- 
successful suit  he  was  received  in  Paris  with  overwhelm- 
ing applause.  There,  he  denounced  the  Dominicans 
with  a  vehemence  which  all  may  wonder  at,  but  none  can 
admire,  accusing  them  of  being  spiritual  deceivers  and 
despots,  of  intruding  into  families  and  leading  astray 
silly  women,  and  in  short  of  being  the  sign  of  those 
"  perilous  da)'s  "  spoken  of  by  the  Apostle  Paul.  The 
Pope  firmly  maintained  the  cause  of  the  Dominicans  ; 
he  issued  other  Bulls,  denouncing  the  Doctors  and 
Professors,  excommunicating  the  recusants,  expelling 
from  office  the  rebellious,  and  calling  on  the  King, 
St.  Louis,  to  prosecute  vigorously  those  who  had  the 
temerity  to  defend  the  authorities  of  the  University. 
The  outcome  of  the  conflict  was  the  complete  victory 
of  the  Mendicants  ;  in  1257  the  University  submitted 
to  the  Pope,  and  Thomas  Aquinas  representing  the 
Dominicans,  and  Bonaventura  representing  the  Francis- 
cans, were  admitted  as  Doctors  of  the  Faculty.  These 
prolonged  disputes  had  excluded  Thomas  from  this 
privilege  for  ten  years,  and  exercised  a  very  powerful 
effect  upon  his  mind  ;  leading  him  in  after  days  to 
advocate  views  of  a  directly  democratic  tendency,  in 
those  of  his  writings  which  treat  upon  jurisprudence. 
He  had  been  no  uninterested  spectator  of  the  disputes  ; 


204         GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

he  had  been  chosen  to  defend  his  Order  against  William 
of  St.  Amour,  in  presence  of  the  Papal  Court,  which  he 
did  with  signal  ability  ;  and  npw,  when  the  victory- 
declared  itself  for  his  party,  he  issued  a  vindication  of 
its  proceedings. 

From  the  reception  of  his  university  honours  his  life 
was  an  extraordinary  combination  of  unremitting  study, 
of  unwearied  toil  in  the  service  of  the  Church,  and  of 
the  most  devout  practices  of  piety.  Before  he  obtained 
his  degree  as  Doctor  of  the  Faculty  of  Theology,  he 
had  composed  some  metaphysical  tracts,  and  had  read 
a  course  of  lectures  on  the  "  Book  of  Sentences."  Now 
he  engaged  in  public  disputation  on  any  questions  in 
philosophy  or  theology  which  were  proposed  to  him, 
and  in  1258,  being  primary  regent,  he  composed  his 
Expositions  of  various  Books  of  Scripture,  both  in  the 
Old  and  New  Testaments.  He  was  frequently  engaged 
in  travelling  to  and  fro  throughout  France,  Italy,  and 
Germany,  on  the  active  business  of  his  Order  ;  and  was 
the  principal  agent  in  drawing  up  a  complete  scheme  of 
study  for  the  use  of  the  members  of  it.  He  was  sum- 
moned more  than  once  by  the  Pope  to  give  his  advice 
on  perplexing  matters  of  State;  and  in  1263  he  was 
in  London,  taking  an  active  part  in  a  Dominican 
Council  held  there.  In  his  lecturing  achievements  he 
seemed  to  be  ubiquitous.  In  Rome,  in  -Bologna,  in 
Paris,  in  Cologne,  in  Viterbo,  in  Naples,  and  in  Perugia, 
he  was  found  at  various  times  lecturing  and  teaching  ; 
and  wherever  he  went  crowds  gathered  round  him  and 
listened  with  a  reverential  demeanour.  Meantime,  he 
wrote  Commentaries,  on  Aristotle,  dealing  with  his 
physics,  metaphysics,  and  ethics.  He  composed  his 
"  Argument  against  the  Gentiles,"  his  "Commentary  on 
Job,"  his  "  Questions  on  the   Soul,"   and.  many  other 


THE  ANGELICAL  DOCTOR.  205 

works  ;  but,  above  all,  he  found  time  to  prepare,  and 
nearly  to  complete,  the  "  Summa  Theologia.',"  which  is 
the  literary  wonder  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and  which,  as  a 
rrtonument  of  human  learning,  ingenuity,  industry,  and 
piety,  has  never  been  surpassed  by  any  writer  in 
Christendom. 

He  commenced  this  stupendous  work  in  1265,  ^"d 
continued  to  spend  upon  it  every  minute  he  could  spare 
from  his  urgent  duties  in  the  Church,  until  1273,  when 
his  noble  career  came  to  a  close.  His  varied  and  accu- 
mulated labours  did  not  pass  without  recognition  from 
the  authorities  of  the  Church.  He  had  been  offered 
the  rich  Abbacy  of  Monte  Casino,  and  the  more  tempt- 
ing position  of  Archbishop  of  Naples ;  but  neither 
bait  had  any  charm  for  him.  He  was  prevailed  upon 
by  the  earnest  solicitations  of  Charles  of  Anjou  to 
fix  his  residence  at  Naples,  and  he  patiently  wrought 
upon  the  book  which  was  to  make  his  name  illustrious, 
until  the  midwinter  of  1273.  Then  a  powerful  im- 
pression took  hold  upon  him  that  his  end  was  drawing 
near,  and  he  relaxed  his  efforts.  .  Pope  Gregory  X. 
summoned  him,  in  1274,  to  attend  the  Council  of 
Lyons,  which  was  held  with  a  view  to  compose  the 
dissensions  which  divided  the  Eastern  and  Western 
•  Churches.  The  summons  came  when  he  was  totally 
unfit  through  weakness  for  such  a  journey,  but  the 
spirit  of  perfect  obedience  which  actuated  his  life  led 
him  to  undertake  it.  He  broke  down  utterly  on  the 
road,  and  was  carried  to  the  Monastery  of  the  Ciscer- 
tian  Monks,  at  Fossa  Nuova,  in  Terracina,  where  he 
waited  for  death  in  peaceful  resignation  during  seven 
weeks.  He  received  the  eucharist  prostrate  upon  the 
earth,  and  on  being  asked  if  he  would  have  anything, 
he  replied   that   "  witliin    a  little  he   should   enjoy  all 


2o6  GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

things,"  When  submitting  to  severe  mortification  by 
lying  in  ashes  in  his  death  agony,  he  said  :  '*  .Soon, 
soon  will  the  God  of  all  comfort  complete  His  mercies 
on  me,  and  fulfil  all  my  desires."  In  such  a  frame  of 
perfect  peace  he  passed  into  the  Father's  presence. 

In  appearance,  we  are  told,  he  was  "almost  vast, 
tall,  and  massy  in  the  bones,  to  which  the  spare  flesh 
gave  scarcely  a  complete  covering  ;  the  expression  of 
his  eyes  was  most  modest,  his  face  oblong,  his  com- 
plexion inclined  to  sallowness,  his  forehead  more 
depressed  than  the  profoundness  of  his  intellect  might 
seem  to  require,  his  head  large  and  round,  and  partly 
bald,  his  person  erect" ^ 

His  character  was  so  blameless  that  none  has  ever 
ventured  to  breathe  upon  it  one  shade  of  suspicion. 
His  devotions  were  pursued  with  unbroken  avidity  and 
diligence,  that  his  philosophical  and  theological  studies 
might  not  dull  the  brightness  nor  mar  the  freshness  of 
his  piety  ;  and  he  never  commenced  any  great  work 
without  spending  a  preparatory  period  in  fasting  and 
prayer.  His  diligence  was  so  unremitting  that  m  the 
midst  of  scenes  of  social  enjoyment  his  mind  was  pre- 
occupied with  grave  and  important  studies,  and  on  one 
occasion,  when  at  the  table  of  Louis  the  King  of 
France,  while  the  company  was  occupied  with  gay 
conversation  he  was  absorbed  in  mental  disputation, 
and  startled  all  present  by  striking  the  table  and 
exclaiming  :  "  Jam  contra  Manich^eos  conclusum  esse." 

Several  of  his  sayings  are  preserved,  which  show  the 
modesty  and  probity  of  his  nature.  One  asked  him 
why  he  was  so  long  silent  under  Albertus  }  To  which 
he  replied,  "Because  I  had  nothing  of  worth  to  .say  to 
him."  Another  asked  what  was  the  most  pleasant 
•  Hamp.,  Aquinas  Encyc,  Met.  XL,  807. 


THE  ANGELICAL  DOCTOR.  2<y} 

tliiny  to  him  ?  His  answer  \vas  :  "  To  understand  all 
that  I  read."  Another  told  him  it  had  been  said  that 
he  was  not  so  learned  as  he  had  been  supposed.  To 
which  he  answered  :  "  1  will  study  the  more  to  prove  his 
words  false."  A  woman  reproached  him,  saying  that 
'"'seeing  he  was  born  of  a  woman  he  should  not  so  shun 
thcin."  "  Yes,"  he  said,  "  even  therefore  because  I  was 
bofu  of  them."  Someone  asked  him  how  he  might  live 
without  blame?  and  he  told  him,  "if  he  would  remember 
his  reckoning  to  the  Great  Judge  of  heaven  and  earth." 
That  Aquinas  should  have  been  able  to  accomplish 
so  much  in  his  short  life  of  forty-eight  years  is  in- 
deed a  marvel.  But  he  always  seemed  to  live  to  the 
extreme  verge  of  his  possibilities  ;  his  nature  was 
ever  strained  to  its  utmost  limit,  and  it  is  more  of  a 
wonder  that  he  lived  so  long  and  did  so  much  than  a 
matter  of  regret  that  he  died  so  soon.  His  nature  was 
intense,  and  he  carried  a  burning  fervour  into  all  his 
labours,  so  that  he  was  able  to  crowd  much  more  of  the 
real  life  of  action  and  achievement  into  his  shorter 
space  than  some  other  great  men  have  been  able  to 
put  into  a  long  career  of  threescore  years  and  ten. 
The  Venetian  edition  of  his  works,  published  in  1787, 
and  filling  twenty-eight  large  octavo  volumes,  form 
such  a  monument  of  patient  industry  and  ripe  learning 
as  no  other  mediaeval  writer  was  able  to  erect.  To 
attempt  to  give  any  full  list  of  his  many  works  would 
not  be  in  accordance  with  the  object  of  this  volume, 
and  it  will  be  sufficient  to  mention  but  a  few  of  the 
most  important.  Far  above  all  others  in  extent  and 
importance  is  the  "  Summa  Theologize,"  which  is  the 
ripest  fruit  of  his  genius  and  of  Scholasticism,  and, 
indeed,  of  the  entire  literature  of  the  Latin  Church.^ 
'  Lupton,  "  Glory  of  their  Times,"  SiS- 


2os       grea  t  schoolmen  of  the  middle  a  ces. 

"The  Sum  of  Theology." 

It  was  the  noble  if  ineffectual  ambition  of  Aquinas  to 
make  the  Summa  a  complete,  exhaustive,  and  final  reper- 
tory of  human  thought  on  matters  touching  philosophy 
and  religion,  beyond  which  none  need  seek  to  penetrate;  he 
sought  to  make  it  a  perfect  treasury  of  learning  arranged 
in  faultless  order,  and  presented  in  entire  accord  with 
the  decisions  of  the  Church.  If  it  did  not  reach  this 
ideal,  it  was  because  it  was  too  lofty  to  be  attained  by 
any  production  of  the  human  intellect,  but  it  certainly 
approximated  more  nearly  to  it  than  any  work  ever 
written,  and  it  did  succeed  in  presenting  the  most 
advanced  theology  of  the  Christian  Church  as  expressed 
by  the  great  Councils  of  Christendom,  in  the  logical 
method  of  Aristotle  and  his  Arabian  expositors.  In 
thus  summing  up  the  Theology  realized  by  the  Chris- 
tian consciousness  of  his  age,  Aquinas  conferred  a  great 
boon  Upon  the  world,  for,  whilst  a  work  which  sums  up 
the  results  of  the  investigations  and  speculations  of 
preceding  generations  cannot  be  regarded  as  leading 
on  to  new  conquests  in  the  realm  of  thought,  it  can 
and  does  become  a  firm  foundation  on  which  bright 
and  chivalrous  thinkers  may  reach  forward  and  make 
further  progress  in  the  attainment  of  truth. 

The  Summa  is  divided  into  three  parts  :  the  first  part 
treats  of  God,  the  second  of  Man,  the  third  of  the  God- 
man.  The  author  commences  by  explaining  the  nature 
of  theology, -the  science  which  treats  of  God,  but,  of 
course,  of  God  as  He  is  known  to  us,  and  then  pro- 
ceeds to  treat  in  the  most  comprehensive  manner  of 
His  Existence,  Nature,  Perfections  and  Attributes, 
Works,  Government,  Providence  and  Mode  of  Existence, 
extending    to     matters     physical,    metaphysical,     and 


THE  ANGELICAL  DOCTOR.  209 

Biblical,  with  marvellous  completeness  and  familiarity, 
dividing  them  into  one  hundred  and  nineteen  questions, 
subdividing  these  into  five  hundred  and  ninety  articles, 
which  in  their  turn  are  distinguished  into  reasons  for 
and  against,  with  a  final  summing  up  of  every  article. 
The  second  division  of  the  Book  deals  with  Man,  and 
is  divided  into  two  parts,  the  first  containing  one 
hundred  and  fourteen  questions,  which  are  separated 
into  six  hundred  and  fourteen  articles,  the  second  part 
having  one  hundred  and  eighty-nine  questions,  and 
nine  hundred  and  twenty-four  articles.  The  third  part 
Aquinas  was  not  able  to  finish  ;  he  had  proceeded  to 
the  ninetieth  question  when  he  was  interrupted  by  his 
last  sickness.  Additions  v/erc  made  to  it  by  some  of 
his  followers,  extracted  from  his  Commentary  on  the 
Book  of  Sentences,  and  thus  a  form  of  completeness 
was  given  to  it,  which  the  pious  author  had  been  pre- 
vented from  imparting.  This  part  treats  of  the  God- 
man  ;  it  has  ninety-nine  questions  and  nearly  four 
hundred  articles.  The  Vv'hole  Summa  contains  five 
hundred  and  twelve  questions,  and  more  than  tvvo 
thousand  five  hundred  articles.  The  twelfth  edition, 
just  published  in  Paris,  consists  of  four  thousand  six 
hundred  and  ninety  closely-printed  pages  of  large 
octavo,  which  fact  may  give  som.e  idea  of  the  extent 
of  this  stupendous  work.^ 

The  gigantic  scale  of  the  Siinnna  is  not  the  most 
remarkable  feature  of  it.  The  tlujroughness  of  the  treat- 
ment which  each  question  and  article  receives  is  much 
more  remarkable.  Each  one  of  the  t\A-cnty  five  hundred 
articles  is  subdivided  into  objections,  to  the  solution 
wiiich  is  to  be  given  ;  then  follow  arguments  in  favour 
of  it  thru  comes  the  solution   itself,  and  replies  to  the 

'Note  A. 

14 


210        GREAT  SCHOOLMFN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

objections    urged,    in    the    order    in  which    they  were 
stated. 

The  perfect  candour  with  which  Aquinas  states  the 
objections  and  arguments  which  may  be  adduced 
against  his  views  is  admirable  and  marvellous.  On  the 
one  side  he  pleads  the  cause  of  scepticism,  with  a 
completeness  and  force  which  no  sceptic  could  surpass 
and  none  has  equalled,  and  he  does  this  without  one 
trace  of  fear,  or  one  expression  of  rancour  ;  he  says  all 
that  can  be  said  against  himself,  with  the  impartiality 
and  passionl'essness  of  a  judge,  he  shows  the  clearness 
and  force  of  a  skilful  advocate  without  any  of  the 
ardour  of  a  polemic,  he  weighs  both  sides  as  though  he 
were  not  at  all  concerned  in  the  result,  excepting  that 
he  never  seems  to  doubt  for  one  moment  but  that  the 
truth  must  triumph  ;  if  any  anxiety  is  ever  shown  by 
him,  it  is  that  what  he  deems  to  be  error  should  have 
all,  and  the  best  said  for  it  that  can  be  said,  that  thus 
the  triumph  of  truth  may  be  the  more  sure  and  signal. 
A  writer  of  sound  and  judicial  mind  has  said  of  him  in 
this  respect : 

"  He  is  nearly  as  consurnmate  a  sceptic,  almost  atheist,  as 
he  is  a  divine  and  theologian.  Secure  as  it  would  seem  in 
impenetrable  armour,  he  has  not  only  no  apprehension,  but 
seems  not  to  suppose  the  possibility  of  danger ;  he  has  nothing 
of  the  boastfulness  of  self-confidence,  but  in  calm  assurance  of 
victory  gives  every  advantage  to  his  adversary.  On  both  sides 
of  every  question  he  casts  the  argument  into  one  of  his  clear 
distinct  syllogisms,  and  calmly  places  himself  as  an  Arbiter, 
and  passes  judgment  in  one  ot  a  series  of  still  more  unanswer- 
able syllogisms."^ 

The  influence  of  the  Swnma  as  a  factor  in  the 
Christian  thought  of  Europe  can  scarcely  be  over-esti- 

^  Milman,  "  Hist.  Lat.  Christ.,"  ix.,  133. 


THE  ANGELICAL  DOCTOR.  2il 

mated.  For  three  hundred  years  the  Seatnda  Sccundce 
was  the  ethical  code  of  Christendom,  and  a  noble, 
exalted,  and  pure  one.  Upon  the  Smnvia,  commen- 
tators and  expositors  of  the  first  order,  whose  name  is 
legion,  from  Suarez  to  Migne,  have  exhausted  their 
learning  and  ingenuity  ;  it  was  honoured  by  being  laid 
on  the  table  side  by  side  with  the  Bible  itself  during  the 
sessions  of  the  Council  at  Trent;  the  first  great  Reformers 
excepted  it  from  the  other  productions  of  the  School 
as  being  worthy  of  great  respect  and  attention,  whilst 
writers  like  Erasmus,  Vives,  Fontenelle,  Leibnitz,  and 
many  others,  write  of  it  in  strains  of  high  commendation. 
Six  hundred  years  have  passed  since  Aquinas'  sun  went 
down  while  it  was  yet  day,  but  his  influence  is  still  great, 
and  he  is  undoubtedly  one  of  those  sceptred  kings 
"  who  rule  our  spirits  from  their  urns."  On  the  4th 
of  August,  1879,  the  present  Pope  issued  an  encyclical 
letter  to  the  whole  Catholic  world,  extolling  the  wisdom, 
piety,  and  transcendent  abilities  of  Aquinas,  setting  out 
the  homage  done  to  his  memory  by  Popes,  Kings, 
Councils,  and  Universities,  and  concluding  with  these 
words,  which  clearly  show  that  his  influence  is  not 
willingly  to  be  allowed  to  die  : — 

"While  we  proclaim  that  every  wise  saying,  every  useful 
discovery,  by  whomsoever  it  may  be  wrought,  should  be 
received  with  a  willing  and  grateful  mind,  we  exhort  you  all, 
Venerable  Brethren,  most  earnestly  to  restore  the  golden 
wisdom  of  St.  Thomas,  and  to  proi>agate  it  as  widely  as  pos- 
sible for  the  defence  of  the  Catholic  faith,  the  pood  of  society, 
and  the  advancement  of  all  the  sciences.  The  wisdom  of 
St.  Thomas,  we  say,  for  if  there  is  anything  in  the  Scholastic 
doctors  of  oversubtle  enquiry,  or  ill-considered  statement,  if 
anything  inconsistent  with  ascertained  doctrines  of  a  later  age, 
or  lastly,  in  any  way  not  admissible,  it  is  by  no  means  our 
intention  to  propose  that  to  our  age  for  imitation.  Jiut  let 
teachers    endeavour    to    nstil   the   doctrine   of    St.    Thomas 


CI2         GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

Aquinas  into  the  nrinds  of  their  disciples,  and  to  place  in  a 
clear  light  his  solidity  and  excellence  in  comparison  with 
others. " 

The  other  works  of  Aquinas  scarcely  require  to  be 
mentioned,  except  the  Contra  Gentiles,  the  Opusculuvi, 
a  Commentary  on  the  supposed  treatise  on  the  Trinity 
by  Boethius,  the  Commentaries  on  the  "  Book  of  Sen- 
tences," the  Qiiodlihcta,  questions  on  all  manner  of 
subjects,  Questions  on  Potentiality,  on  Evil,  and  on  the 
Virtues,  with  Commentaries  on  many  Books  of  Scrip- 
ture. Many  editions  of  his  works  have  been  published, 
the  principal  being  that  at  Rome,  in  seventeen  volumes, 
in  1570,  and  that,  already  mentioned,  at  Venice,  in 
twenty-eight  volumes,  in  1787. 

Note  A. 

The  following  neat  summary  of  the  contents  of  the  "  Summa"  is 
extracted  from  T/ie  Modern  Review,  No.  1,  p:  71  : — 

OF  THEOLOGY.    ITS  NATURE  AND   OBJECTS. 

FIRST  PART— Introductory.     Of  God.      I.  In  Himself. 

II.  As  Cause  of  all  things. 

I. —  I.  Of  God  in  the  Unity  of  His  Being. 
(rt)  His  Existence  proved. 

ip)  His  Nature.     One,  Undivided,  Infinite,  Eternal. 
{c)  His  Action,      (c)  Within— His   Knowledge,   Will, 
Providence,  Predestination. 
(/3)  Without— His  Power. 
2.  Of  God  in  the  Trinity  of  Persons. 
II. — I.    In  the  bringing  of  Things  into  Being. 
2.  Of  the  different  kinds  of  things. 
(«)  Of  Good  and  Evil, 

{J})  Of  things  (a)  spiritual.     Angels,  their  nature,  crea- 
tion, fall. 
O)  Material.    The  work  oi  the  Six  I^ays 
of  Creation. 


THE  ANGELICAL  DOCTOR.  213 

(y)  Spiritual  and  Material  in  One.     Of 
Man,  his  Body,  his  Soul,  his  Crea- 
tion. 
3.  Of  the  Government  of  all  things  by  God. 
(<0  Of  the  preservation  of  things  in  being. 
(/•)  Of  tiieir  change,     (a)  By  the  action  of  God. 

(ji)  By     their     action     on     one 
another. 

SECOND   PART.— Of  the  Movement  of  the  R-VTIONal 
Creature  Godward. 

I.  Of  the  End  of  Man  in  the  attainment  of  the  BcaJiic 
Vision. 

II.  Of  Acts,  by  which  man  reaches  or  is  frustrated  of  his  end 

1.  Of  Hainan  Acts  in  general. 

A.  Of  the  Acts  themselves. 

(<^)  Of  Acts  peculiar  to  man.     Voluntary  Acts. 
\b)  Of  Acts  common  to  man  and  beast    Passions. 

B.  Of  the  Causes  of  Human  Acts. 

{a)  From  within.      (a)  Capacities  or  Powers   of 
Action. 

(/3)  Habits. 
{b)  From  without,     {a)  Guidance  of  Laws. 

(/3)  Guidance  of  Grace. 

2.  Of  Human  Acts  in  Special. 

A.  Of  such  as  are  common  to  every  state  of  life. 

{a)  Of  the  Three  Theological  Virtues,  and  Vices 
opposed  to  them  :  Faith,  Hope,  Charity. 

{b)  Of  the  Four  Cardinal  Virtues,  and  Vices 
opposed  to  them  :  Prudence,  Justice,  Forti- 
tude, Temperance. 

B.  Of  such  as  are  peculiar  to  certain  states  of  life. 

((?)  Of  Special  Gifts  and  Graces. 

{p)  Of  the  Active  and  Contemplative  Life. 

\c)  Of  Sundry  Positions  and  Duties. 

THIRD  PART.— Of  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  way  to  God  opened 
up  through  Him. 

I.  Of  Jesus  Christ.    God  and  Man. 

1.  Of  the  Incarnation. 

2.  Of  the  consequences  of  the  Incarnation. 

3.  Of  the  Life  of  Christ. 


214        C.'f'Z:^  T  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  ACES. 

11.  Of  the  Sacraments,  instituted  by  and  dependent  on  Jesus 
Christ. 
Of  the  Sacraments  in  general.     Then 

1.  Of  Baptism  or  Spiritual  Birth. 

2.  Of  Confirmation  or  Spiritual  Manhood. 

3.  Of  the  Eucharist  or  Spiritual  Food. 

4.  5.  Of  Penitence  and  Extreme  Unction  or  Spiritual  Medi- 

cine. 

6.  Of  Orders,  for  the  Spiritual  Government  of  men. 

7.  Of  Matrimony,  for  the  Spiritual  Life  of  the  Family. 

III.  Of  the  Resurrection,  which  we  obtain  through  Christ 
and  the  end  of  all  things. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 
THE  ANGELICAL  DOCTOR.— HLS  OPINIONS. 


"  Reason  is  weak  indeed,  if  it  do  not  advance  far  enough  to  ascertain  that 
there  is  an  infinity  of  things  beyond  its  ronge.  It  is  well  to  know  when  to 
hesitate,  when  to  feel  certainty,  when  to  submit.  He  who  has  not  learnt 
this,  has  not  yet  detennuied  the  true  province  of  reason.  Men  eir  in  three 
ways — either  in  establishing 'everything  by  demonstration,  because  they  are 
ignorant  of  the  nature  of  demonstration  ;  or  in  doubting  of  everj'thing, 
because  they  know  not  where  to  yield  ;  or  in  universal  submission,  because 
they  know  not  where  or  how  to  exercise  their  judgment." — Pascal. 

"  The  scheme  of  Christianity,  though  not  discoverable  by  human  reason, 
is  yet  in  accordance  with  it ;  link  follows  link  in  necessary  consequence  ; 
Religion  passes  out  of  the  ken  of  reason  only  when  the  eye  of  reason  has 
reached  its  own  horizon,  and  Faith  is  then  but  its  continuation  ;  even  as 
the  day  softens  into  the  sweet  twilight,  and  twilight  hushed  and  breathless 
steals  into  the  darkness." — Coleridge. 


XIV. 
THE  ANGELICAL  DOCTOR.— HIS  OPINIONS. 

In  proceeding  to  give  a  brief  statement  of  the  opinions 
of  Aquinas,  it  is  important  to  notice  the  position  he 
gave  to  the  human  reason  in  treating  of  Christian 
doctrine.  He  taught  that  we  had  two  sources  of  know- 
ledge, the  Christian  Revelation  and  human  reason.  In 
his  treatise  Contra  Gentiles,  he  strongly  urges  that  from 
both  channels  we  may  receive  knowledge,  although,  as 
one  might  have  expected,  as  a  good  Churchman  he 
attaches  the  greatest  .  importance  to  Revelation.  He 
contended  stoutly  against  those  who  believed  there  was 
an  irreconcilable  difference  between  faith  and  reason,  and 
urged  that  the  doctrines  of  Christianity  must  be  appre- 
hended through  the  reason,  although  they  are  above 
and  beyond  it.  The  opinion  that  Revelation  and  reason 
were  necessarily  opposed  to  each  other  was  strongly 
current  in  his  day,  and  it  is  much  to  his  praise  that  he 
set  himself  in  decided  opposition  to  such  an  error'  by 
showing  that  such  contradiction  could  not  possibly  exist, 
because  God  was  alike  the  Author  of  our  reason  and 
the  Bestower  of  Revelation,  so  that  the  truths  implanted 
by  Him  within  our  minds  could  not  be  opposed  to 
those    revealed    in    the    Gospel.      He    also    sought    to 

'  Note  A, 


2i8        GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

demonstrate  that  the  truths  which  are  above  reason 
need  not  be  and  are  not  contradictory  to  it,  but  that  it 
is  competent  to  expose  the  false  arguments  offered 
against  the  truths  which  are  beyond  its  full  compre- 
hension. He  affirms  that  faith  is  the  complement  of 
reason,  which  should  humble  itself  before  it  even  as  the 
natural  desires  of  the  heart  should  hurrible  themselves 
before  Christian  Love.  He  held  that  Revelation  flowed 
through  the  channels  of  Scripture  and  Church  Tradi- 
tion, and  that  the  conclusions  of  reason  came  through 
the  various  systems  of  heathen  philosophy,  especially 
the  systems  of  Plato  and  Aristotle.  Corresponding  to 
these  two  fountains  of  knowledge,  natural  and  super- 
natural, there  are  separate  faculties  in  human  nature  ; 
the  faculty  of  faith  and  that  of  reason,  enabling  man  to 
apprehend  such  knowledge  ;  both  faculties,  of  course, 
came  originally  from  God,  the  real  and  only  source  of 
wisdom  and  truth.  Aquinas  is  somewhat  inconsistent 
with  himself  when  he  strives  to  show  that  in  regard  to 
distinct  utterances  by  Revelation  on  certain  subjects 
reason  can  make  no  demur.  It  may,  he  says,  enquire, 
examine,  and  sustain,  but  in  view  of  an  imperative 
affirmation  it  may  not  criticise  or  object.  He  instances 
the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  as  such  a  subject.  But  not- 
withstanding this,  no  previous  Schoolman  had  insisted 
so  emphatically  on  the  province  of  reason,  or  had  given 
to  it  so  large  a  range,  and  none  who  followed  him, 
reckoned  orthodox,  was  more  ready  to  recognise  its  true 
position.  He  insists  that  reason  has  a  work  of  Divine 
authority  in  determining  man's  opinions,  and  in  his 
works  he  argued  even  more  upon  the  ground  of  reason 
than  from  the  statements  of  Scripture.  This  clearly 
shows  how  little  Aquinas  was  the  slave  of  a  mere 
ecclesiastical  system,  and  how  forcibly  he  laid  down  and 


THE  ANGELICAL  DOCTOR.  219 

followed  in   his  writings  .the  great  foundation  principle 
of  the  Protestant  movement  of  the  fifteenth  century. 

On  the  great  question  of  the  Middle  Ages,  touching 
Universals,'  Aquinas  held  views  almost  identical  with 
those  of  his  great  Master,  Albertus  Magnus.  He  was 
moderately  eclectic  ;  he  held  with  Aristotle  that  Univer- 
sal exist  in  a  two-fold  manner,  in  the  nature  of  par- 
ticulars and  in  the  concept  into  which  the  mind  has 
collected  and  combined  them.  But  he  was  not  prepared 
to  refuse  the  theory  of  Plato  entirely.  He  rejected  his 
view  that  Ideas  are  independent  essences,  but  he  believed 
with  him  that  they  are  immanent  in  the  Divine  Mind, 
and  that  they  operate  indirectly  upon  the  sensible  world. 
So  that  he  joined  with  Albertus  and  others  in  teaching 
the  existence  of  the  Universal,  ante  rem,  i?i  re,  post  rem. 
He  said  that  Plato  erred  in  teaching  that  we  can  only 
have  knowledge  of  truth  by  the  Universal  possessing 
reality,  and  existing  in  the  same  way  in  our  thought 
and  in  external  reality;  that  thus  the  great  Greek  was 
led  to  his  foundation  mistake  in  supposing  that  the  Uni- 
versal possessed  distinct  subsistence.  Aquinas  held  that 
Aristotle  was  more  correct  in  teaching  that  "  as  the 
senses  are  able  to  separate  what  in  the  realiter  is  not 
separate,  as  the  eye,  e.g.-,  perceives  only  the  colour  and 
shape  of  an  apple,  and  not  its  smell  or  taste,  so,  and 
much  more  even,  the  mind  can  effect  the  like  purely 
subjective  separation  by  considering  in  the  individual 
only  the  Universal."  ="  He  came  to  the  ultimate  conclu- 
sion that  the  Universal  exists  really  in  the  individual, 
as  the  essence  of  things,  the  one  in  the  many  ;  the 
intellect  exercises  the  abstracting  power  whereby  the 
Universal  becomes  in  the  intellect  the  one  beside  the 
many.  This  may  be  called  Realism,  but  it  is"  so  garbed 
'  Ueberweg,  i.,  445-  ^  Note  I. 


22C         GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

in  Nominalism  as  not  to  be  at  once  perceptible  ;  he  so 
combines  the  two  theories,  as  to  preserve  himself  from 
being  classed  either  with  those  who  follow  Plato  and 
Plotinus,  or  those  who  fell  into  the  opposite  opinions  of 
Roscellin  and  Ockam.  It  is  impossible  to  show  that 
Aquinas  was  consistent  in  holding  these  divergent 
views,  but  Eclectics  are  seldom  consistent,  and  do  not 
trouble  themselves  very  much  on  that  score.  Their 
inconsistencies  may  however  be  more  apparent  than  real, 
and  in  the  case  of  Aquinas,  the  breadth  and  grasp  of 
his  mental  constitution  might  have  enabled  him  to  dis- 
cern truth  in  the  various  theories  of  Realism,  Nominal- 
ism, and  Conceptualism,  which  had  been  discussed,  and 
have  led  him  to  accept  them  all  without  being  anxious 
to  make  the  one  theory  dovetail  with  the  other. 

In  teaching  upon  a  kindred  subject  to  this,  Aquinas 
involved  himself  in  some  scandal  as  teaching  theological 
error,  viz.,  the  cause  of  individuation.  Plato  referred 
this  to  the  Archetypal  Idea  existing  in  the  mind  of 
God,  but  Aristotle  settled  it  by  his  theory  of  Form  and 
Matter,  the  one  as  that  which  constitutes  every  sub- 
stance what  it  is  ;  the  other  as  its  condition  and  sine 
qua  lion.  Aquinas  accepted  the  principle  of  Aristotle  ; 
he  said,  matter  as  possessed  of  definite  properties,  and 
not  in  any  abstract  form,  was  the  cause  of  individuation. 
Here  arose  a  difficulty,  for  if  this  was  so  there  could  be 
no  individuality  in  the  case  of  pure  spirits,  and  as  he 
was  bound  to  accept  the  plain  statement  of  Scripture 
that  spiritual  individuals  do  exist,  he  was  forced  to  the 
conclusion  that  every  separate  angel  represented  a  dis- 
tinct species.  This  opinion  brought  him  under  the 
censure  of  the  Church,  and  his  teaching  on  this  point 
was  condemned  by  the  Archbishop  of  Paris: 

He  strongly  argued  against  the  theory  of  Averroes 


THE  ANGELICAL  DOCTOR.  221 

concerning  the  indivisibility  of  the  intellect.  He 
adopted  the  view  of  Aristotle  that  the  soul  is  the 
Form  of  the  body  ;  he  defines  it  as  the  cause  of  the 
body,  the  spiritual  entity  which  moulds  and  conditions 
the  body;  but  on  the  other  hand  he  affirmed  that  the 
soul  could  only  obtain  experience  through  the  body, 
and  that  each  is  thus  necessary  to  the  other.  This  was 
a  debasing  view  of  man's  better  nature,  and  opposed  to 
the  high  Christian  teaching  which  taught  the  pure 
spirituality  of  the  soul.  Indeed,  to  take  some  of 
Aquinas'  expressions  and  interpret  them  by  a  rigorous 
literalism,  he  would  be  found  to  deny  the  immortality 
of  the  soul ;  but  against  such  an  issue  he  guards  himself 
by  writing  on  other  subjects,  in  a  manner  which  suffi- 
ciently indicates  his  orthodoxy  on  this  subject. 

Passing  to  glance  at  the  Theology  of  Aquinas,  he 
approximated,  in  dealing  with  the  question  of  the  Exist- 
ence of  God,  to  the  ontological  argument  of  Anselm, 
He  said  that  the  proposition,  "  God  exists,"  might  be 
taken  as  proved  if  considered  in  it.self,  as  predicate  and 
subject  are  in  entire  agreement.  He  adduced  five  proofs 
in  defence  of  the  proposition  :  {a)  the  great  moving- 
principle  which  is  not  itself  moved  by  any  other  ;  {b) 
the  First  Great  Cause  ;  (r)  that  which  is  necessary  in 
itself ;  {d)  the  gradation  of  things,  the  argument  rising 
from  the  imperfect  to  the  perfect ;  {e)  the  adaptation  of 
things.  In  which  various  arguments  we  have  collected 
most  of  those  adopted  by  modern  v/riters — notably. 
Mr.  Isaac  Taylor  and  the  authors  of  the  Bridgwater 
Treatises. 

As  to  the  icnowlcdge  which  may  be  obtained  of  God, 
he  held  with  Albert  tliat  we  can  only  have  an  approxi- 
mate knowledge  of  Him  ,  that  all  v.e  can  know  is  not 
adequate,  but  only  ihc  unfolding  of  Himself  tliat  He 


222         GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

makes  to  the  creature.  No  man  can  know  the  Essence 
{qiiidditativani)  of  God,  but  only  the  attire  or  manifesta- 
tion by  which  He  makes  Himself  known  to  man.  He 
also  argued  conclusively  in  favour  of  the  Personality  of 
God,  in  opposition  to  the  Pantheism  expressed  byErigena 
and  his  imitators,  Amalric  of  Bena  and  David  of  Dinanto. 
He  held  that  the  knowledge  of  God  in  a  general  way  is 
intuitive  in  man,  that  in  all  men  there  is  a  craving  after 
Him,  and  that  no  true  happiness  can  be  experienced 
until  He  has  been  found  and  His  favour  enjoyed.  He 
wrote  very  decidedly  against  the  view  advocated  by 
Abelard,  that  God  could  do  no  other  or  better  in  creation 
than  He  has  actually  done,  arguing  that  the  Divine 
Wisdom  and  Power  are  co-ordinate.  But  the  order 
and  beauty  attained  by  His  Wisdom  in  creation  are 
not  the  extreme  possibilities  producible  by  that  attri- 
bute. If  the  end  for  which  things  were  made  simply 
concerned  those  things  themselves,  then  we  might  say 
that  Divine  Wisdom  had  been  confined  to  one  line;  of 
necessary  operation  ;  but  the  Divine  Goodness  as  an 
end  is  far  above  created  things  ;  hence,  Divine  Wisdom 
is  not  confined  to  one  order  of  procedure  only,  and 
therefore  could  have  done  -otherwise  than  has  been  done. 
Thus  he  draws  a  distinction  between  Divine  Power  as 
revealed  in  the  Creation,  and  as  an  absolute  attribute  of 
Deity.  If  Abelard  had  lived  after  Aquinas,  he  might 
probably  have  shown  that  such  reasoning  did  not  solve 
the  difficulties  of  the  subject,  and  was  by  no  means 
impregnable. 

The  metaphysical  subtlety  of  Aquinas'  genius  no- 
where shows  itself  more  notably  than  in  his  disquisitions 
and  discussions  on  the  important  subject  of  the  Holy 
Trinity.*      It  is  questionable  whether  any  eye  but  his 

»  Note  B. 


THE  ANGELICAL  DOCTOR.  223 

could  have  perceived  the  microscopical  distinctions  he 
draws,  or  whether  any  one  could   trace  hi^   labyrinth 
without  becoming  utterly  bewildered.      He  is  not  be- 
wildered ;  he  walks  on  with  a  serene  spirit  and  a  firm 
step,  skimming   no  difficulty,  not    intimidated    by  the 
most  awe-inspiring  questions,  and  coming  to  conclusions 
which  at  least  to  him  are  quite  irresistible.     The  line  of 
argument  pursued  by  Aquinas  in  treating  of  the  Mode 
of  the  Divine  Existence,  proceeded  upon  an  analogy  he 
drew  between  the  Deity  and  human  nature  as  created 
in  His  image.     He  sought  thus  to  rise  from  the  inferior 
and  derived,  to  a  knowledge  of  the  Perfect  and  Original. 
The  mind,  intelligence,  and  will  of  man  were  treated  as 
analogous  to  the  distinctions  given  in  Scripture  of  the 
Father,   Son,   and    Holy   Ghost   in    the   Godhead.      In 
adopting  this  form  of  argument,  he  is  peculiarly  careful 
to  guard  himself  from  misunderstanding  by  urging  the 
titter   impossibility   of   adequately   comprehending   the 
Divine  Being  in  our  present  state,  and  hence  the  inevi- 
table imperfections  of  all  such  illustrations.     He  then 
seeks  to  narrow  the  subject  by  a  series  of  negations, 
and  to  reduce  it  to  the  utmost  simplicity  of  Scripture 
statement.     Guided  by  the  analogy  he  pursues,  he  pro- 
fesses to  have  found  the  key  to  the  Divine  Procession 
in  the  Godhead.     The  Logos  is  the  principle  of  Intelli- 
gence in   the  Deity,  the  Holy  Spirit  is  the  principle  of 
Love ;  the  fomier  gives  expression  to  the  principles  of 
created  things,  the  latter  is  the  bond  between  the  Father 
and  the  Word.     The  former  process  is  called  Generation, 
because  it  is  like  producing  like  ;  as  the  thought  is  pro- 
duced by  the  mind,  so   also   is  the  precession  of  the 
Thought  or  Reason  of  God  from  the  Godhead — a  rela- 
tion therefore  fitly  expressed  by  the  term  Son.     The 
latter  process  is  simply  called  a  Procession  as  the  most 


224        GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

expressive  term  for  the  outflowing  of  Divine  Love,  espe- 
cially as  the  word  Spirit  signifies  a  breathing  forth. 
The  Holy  Spirit  is  the  mutual  Love  between  the  Father 
and  the  Son,  therefore  the  Procession  from  both  corre- 
sponds to  the  Being  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  He  said  tliat 
only  by  a  right  understanding  of  the  doctrine  of  the 
Trinity  could  there  be  a  right  understanding  of  the 
Creation.  Plato  defined  the  Deity  into  a  general  theory 
of  the  Universe  ;  Aristotle  sought  to  show  that  Deity 
was  the  Principle  of  Motion  ;  but  Aquinas,  and  others 
of  the  Schoolmen,  urged  with  great  skill  and  acuteness 
that  Deity  was  the  Principle  of  Efficiency,  or  Causation. 
Then,  by  a  careful  scrutiny  of  the  principles  of  Causation, 
and  intelligence,  and  action  in  the  mind,  Aquinas  strove 
to  show  that  these  principles  belonged  to  the  Divine 
Being  intrinsically  and  entirely,  divested  of  their  outward 
effects  or  accompaniments.  The  view  of  the  Deity 
taken  by  the  Schoolmen  generally  was,  that  He  was 
pure  Efficiency  or  Energy,  looked  at  not  in  its  effects 
or  operations,  but  in  its  original  and  abstract  nature. 

Aquinas  strove  carefully  to  discriminate  the  true  doc- 
trine of  the  Trinity  against  Arianism,  Sabellianism,  and 
materialistic  systems,  which  had  at  various  times  agitated 
the  Church,  and  sought  to  determine  the  relations  and 
functions  of  the  Three  Divine  Persons.  He  insisted 
that  there  was  no  division  of  the  Divine  Being  in  the 
Trinity,  but  that  "  the  entire  Deity  was  transposed  from 
the  Father  to  the  Son  and  the  Holy  Spirit."  The 
Persons  were  of  one  Essence  or  Substance  rather  than 
of  one  Nature,  and  were  Consubstantial  with  each  other. 
He  strove  to  illustrate  the  doctrine  of  the  Three  Persons 
in  the  "Godhead  by  figures  drawn  from  all  the  various 
realms  of  being  or  knowledge.  The  light,  the  ray,  and 
tlic  heat  of  the  sun  ;  the  fountain,  the  flood,  and  the 


THE  ANGELICAL  DOCTOR.  22$ 

stream  ;  the  root,  the  stem,  and  the  flower  ;  the  intellect, 
the  will,  and  the  feeling  ;  the  body,  the  soul,  and  the 
spirit ;  the  metal,  the  seal,  and  the  impression  ; — these 
and  other  illustrations  were  all  made  use  of  by  him  and 
many  other  of  the  Schoolmen,  but  all  failed  to  afford  a 
sufficient  idea  of  the  deep  and  sacred  mystery  of  the 
method  of  the  Divine  F-vistence.  Human  ingenuity  has 
ever  failed,  and  will  ever  fail,  adequately  to  represent  the 
sublimest  fact  of  the  universe  ;  and  probably  a  simple, 
childlike  acceptance  of  the  statements  of  Scripture  on 
so  profound  and  awful  a  subject,  will  lead  to  a  clearer 
knowledge  of  it  than  the  most  acute  and  abstruse  argu- 
ments of  such  a  mind  as  that  even  of  Aquinas.  Certainly 
no  one  has  ever  rivalled  him  in  the  extraordinary  in- 
genuity and  logical  dexterity  with  which  he  handles 
this  great  topic. 

From  these  high  reasonings  it  can  scarcely  be  reck- 
oned a  descent  to  come  to  notice  his  theory  of  the 
Incarnation  of  the  Lord  Jesus — a  subject  which  he 
treated  of  both  with  more  fulness  and  intelligence  than 
it  had  received  from  any  previous  writer.  He  develops 
three  principal  ideas  on  this  doctrine.  He  seeks  first 
to  demonstrate  that  the  Incarnation  consisted  not  in  the 
incarnation  of  the  Divine  Nature,  but  of  a  Divine  Person." 
By  affirming  this  he  sought  to  harmonise  the  doctrine 
of  the  Incarnation  of  the  Word  and  the  Holy  Trinity, 
as  the  Father  and  the  H0I3'  Spirit  were  not  partakers 
in  the  Incarnation,  which  they  must  have  been  had  it 
been  of  the  .Divine  Nature.  He  also  set  forth,  with 
great  clearness,  that  in  Christ  two  distinct  Natures  were 
united  in  one  Person,  and  that  these  Natures,  being 
distinct  in  themselves,  remain  distinct  still.  Then  he 
proceeds  to  discuss  many  curious  questions  relating  to 

'  Note  C. 

15 


226         GREA  T  SCnOCLMK.V  Of  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

the  kiiowlcdf^':'  at^.d  power  possessed  by  Christ's  human 
soul,  some  of  which  have  come  up  for  discussion  in  this 
day,  and  have  sorely  exercised  enquiring  and  sensitive 
souls. 

He  next  considers  Christ  as  the  recipient  of  Grace, 
which  he  divides  into  the  Grace  of  Unio7i  and  Habitual 
Grace.  The  former  is  that  enjoyed  by  the  Divine 
Nature  as  the  result  of  its  haying  honoured  tlie  human 
nature  bj'  uniting  with  it,  and  the  latter  is  that  which 
Christ  experiences  as  the  result  of  having  His  whole 
Being  in  close  fellowship  and  perfect  submission  to  ihe 
Divine. 

He  then  proceeds  to  treat  of  Christ  as  the  Head  of 
the  Church,  and  sets  Him  forth  as  being  in  His  human 
nature  exalted  above  all,  the  representative  of  humanity, 
the  Head  of  the  Body,  and  therefore  grandly  superior 
to  the  Body  ;  the  head  is  the  crown  of  man,  containing 
all  the  senses  outward  and  inward,  so  also  is  Christ, 
the  crown,  and  the  fulnes.«  of  man,  next  to  God,  all 
embracing  and  all  conta5ni;;?j  Enlarging  upon  this 
he  rises  into  greater  warmth  of  spirit  than  in  any  other 
part  of  his  work.  But  he  vitiates  his  really  noble  views 
on  this  subje:*:  by  representing  ChrLsi  as  being  far 
removed  above  any  real  experience  of  the  feelings  of 
human  nature,  as  one  to  whom  faitli  and  hope  were 
unnecessary  on  accoiint  of  His  perfection  in  grace  and 
kiiowledge.  He  overlooks  the  fact,  that  by  voluntary 
limitations  tJic  Saviour  subjected  Himself  to  an  expe- 
rience of  human  weakness,  was  "touched  with  the  feeling 
oi  our  infirmities,"  and  was  thus  intimately  connected 
v/ith  human  nature  by  a  real  tie  of  brotherhood  and 
.sympathy,  that,  "  though  He  v.'ere  a  Son,  yet  learned 
He  obedience  by  the  things  which  He  suffered."  It 
has  taken  the  struggle  and  development  of  six  hundred 


THE  ANGELICAL  DOCTOR.  .  227 

years  to  bring  tlie  Christian  Church  to  a  clear  under- 
standing of  this  most  precious  and  important  truth.' 

On  the  subject  of  the  Atonement  he  taught  gene- 
rally the  theory  framed  and  enforced  by  Ansehn.  He 
held  that  the  sufferings  of  Christ  were  the  voluntary 
payment  on  His  part  of  a  penalty  not  otherwise  due 
from  Him  to  the  Divine  Justice,  and  tiiat  they  were 
accepted  by  God  as  an  equi^'alent  for  the  delinquency 
of  man,  and  as  the  ground  of  the  offer  of  salvation 
being  made  to  the  human  race.  He  carried  this  idea 
much  further  than  Anselm,  dwelling  much  upon  the 
priestly  office  of  Christ,  and  especially  upon  the  super- 
abundant merits  of  His  death  arising  from  the  infinitude 
of  His  love,  the  rich  savour  of  His  life  as  the  God-man, 
and  the  intensity  of  His  sufferings.^  Upon  these  grounds 
he  urged  that  the  compensation  offered  far  exceeded 
tlie  heinousncss  of  the  offence,  and  that  this  overplus 
of  me;  It  redounded  to  the  remission  of  offences  in  others. 
Thus  he  introduced  into  Church  teaching  an  element 
of  error  which  was  abundantly  mischievous  in  its  future 
application. 

In  treating  upon  the  nature  and  fall  of  man,  Aquinas 
combated  the  notion  held  by  some  theologians  in  this 
day,  derived  from  Erigena,  Hugo,  and  Bon.wentura, 
that  the  origmal  righteousness  of  man  was  a  gift  added 
to  his  purely  natural  condi'.ion  ;  he  urged  that  Adam 
in  his  creation  was  possessed  of  the  so-called  "  added 
gift,''  or  "chartered  blessing,"  that  it  belonged  really 
to  his  nature,  and  that  he  was  deprived  of  it  through 
his  transgression.  The  origin  of  sin  did  not  lie  in  any 
single  act  of  disobedience,  but  in  the  spirii  of  rebellion 

'  Tliis  subject  is  al:)ly  and  lengthily  argued  in  "  Dorncr,"  vol.  i., 
div.  ii.,  329,  etc. 
■■'  Note  D. 


228        GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

which  arose  from  the  indulgence  of  pride  in  the  heart. 
The  consequence  of  the  fall  was  the  loss  of  man's 
onginal  righteousness  and  the  introduction  of  discord 
into  his  nature,  as  set  forth  so  vividly  by  Paul  in 
Romans  vii. 

The  salvation  of  man  from  sin  was  entirely  the  work 
of  Divine  grace,  v.'hich,  being  imparted  to  him,  pro- 
duced several  important  results ;  the  will  moved  God- 
v/ards,  hatred  to  sin  was  begotten  in  the  soul,  forgiveness 
was  bestowed  as  the  mind  exercised  faith  in  the  Lord 
Jesus.  The  Grace  of  God  bringing  salvation  was 
bestowed  by  an  act  of  predestination,  or  rather  the 
Grace  operated  to  salvation  on  those  who  had  been 
rendered  fit  subjects  for  it  by  God  having  drawn  their 
minds  towards  goodness/  Thus  with  some  limitations 
he  accepted  the  Augustinian  doctrine  of  predestination ; 
he  would  not  admit  a  predestination  of  guilt,  he  could 
not  see  how  this  could  be  without  the  presence  of  evil 
in  the  Divine  Mind.  On  the  other  hand^  all  good- 
ness must  find  its  origin  in  God,  and  where  any  good 
is  willed  there  must  be  the  exercise  of  love,  where 
there  is  love  there  must  be  the  choice  of  its  objects, 
and  by  this  line  of  argument  he  reaches  both  pre- 
destination and  election. 

The  subject  of  faith  occupied  a  large  share  in  the 
discussions  of  the  Schoolmen.  To  the  term  itself  they 
assigned  a  variety  of  meanings.  Aquinas  held  that 
the  faith  that  justifies  is  that  which  enters  into  living 
fellowship  with  God,  and  makes  the  believer  a  member 
of  the  Body  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  This  faith  becomes 
the  parent  of  good  works,  as  the  Apostle  says,  "  faith 
worketh  by  love."  This  doctrine  led  to  strange  con- 
clusions in  the  Scholastic  teaching,  concerning  the  merits 
'  Note  E. 


THE  ANGELICAL  DOCTOR.  229 

of  good  works,  which  Aquinas  sought  to  obviate  by 
stating  that  there  was  merit  ex  condigno  and  merit  ex 
congruo.  The  former  receives  a  reward  because  it  is 
worthy^  from  the  hand  of  a  just  God;'  the  latter  is  a 
reward  given  to  the  unvjortJiy  by  a  nierciful  God. 
Christ  alone  is  entitled  to  the  former  on  the  ground  of 
His  own  righteousness,  but  as  God  bestows  grace  upon 
all  of  those  whom  He  accepts  in  Christ,  He  is  just  in 
bestowing  such  grace  upon  them. 

Aquinas  gathered  up  into  his  system  a  doctrine  which 
had  been  floating  indefinably  in  Church  tradition  for 
some  ages,  but  which  now  found  detinite  and  authori- 
tative expression  in  his  pages.  This  was  that  a  higher 
perfection  was  to  be  obtained  by  observing  the  consilia 
evangelka.  He  drevV  a  fine  distinction  between  Counsel 
and  Precept ;  by  the  former  signifying  the  loftier  habit, 
as  he  supposed  it,  of  living  in  a  state  of  closest  fellow- 
ship with  God,  and  being  urged  to  this  lofty  communion 
not  only  by  the  discharge  of  regular  duty,  but  also  by 
the  fulfilment  of  duties  not  obligatory  in  themselves  ; 
and  by  the  latter  he  meant  a  life  more  remote  from 
the  perfect,  v/hich  was  guided  by  the  precepts  of  the 
Word  of  God  and  by  the  discharge  of  obligatory  duties. 
In  making  this  distinction,  Aquinas  showed  how  much 
his  soul  was  steeped  in  the  spirit  and  method  of 
Aristotle,"  for  the  doctrine  was  simply  an  application 
of  the  philosopher's  teaching  baptized  into  Christian 
name  and  system  The  "wise  man"  of  the  Greek 
corresponded  to  tne  perfect  man  of  Aquinas,  as  dis- 
tinguished from  those  who  only  seek  to  perform  with 
care  the  humble  and  common  duties  of  life.  The 
application  of  this  doctrine  exercised  a  great  influence 
on  the  future  practice  of  the  Church.  It  came  to  be 
»  2  Tim.  iv.  8.  *  Hampden,  "  Bamp.  LecL,""288. 


230         GREA  r  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

held  that  as  many  as  rose  to  the  higher  life  of  consilium 
performed  holy  works  which  they  were  not  required  by 
the  Divine  law  to  fulfil,  that  these  were  opera  superero- 
^ativa^  which  might  be  imputed  to  those  who  had  no 
good  works  of  their  own.  As  it  was  afterwards  taught 
that  this  surplus  stock  of  good  works  was  preserved  in 
the  treasury  of  the  Church  and  at  its  disposal,  immense 
encouragement  was  given  to  the  sale  of  indulgences, 
and  the  grossest  abuses  arose,  as  any  Church  history 
will  testify.'  In  justice  to  Aquinas  it  must  be  said 
that  he  rejected  the  doctrine  of  indulgences  as  popularly 
taught  in  the  Church,  Against  some  who  held  that 
indulgences  could  only  benefit  according  to  the  faith 
and  love  manifested  by  each  individual,  and  who  yet 
carefully  withheld  this  condition  from  the  people  lest 
they  should  thereby  be  less  ready  to  invest  in  them,  he 
declared  that  their  conduct  was  most  dangerous  to  the 
wellbeing  of  the  Church,  and  such  as  would  undoubtedly 
bring  trouble  and  disaster  in  its  train.  How  true  his 
words  were  the  affray  between  Tetzel  and  Luther,  with 
all  its  outcome,  is  the  illustration. 

In  his  full  treatment  of  the  Sacraments  Aquinas 
drew  out  all  the  reserves  of  his  subtle  and  discriminating 
skill,  and  in  no  field  could  he  have  found  for  it  a  more 
urgently  needful  sphere.  He  followed  Augustine  in 
defining  a  Sacrament  as  being  a  visible  sign  of  an 
invisible  grace  ;  but  he  went  further  than  this,  and  it 
was  by  his  definitions  tliat  those  of  the  Council  of 
Trent  were  decided,  that  the  Sacraments  were  both 
outward  signs  of  inward  grace,  and  also  the  cause  of 
that  grace  being  enjoyed  within  the  soul.  In  the 
Romish  system  the  Sacraments  occupy  a  commanding 
position.  On  the  one  side  there  is  man,  depraved, 
^  Gieseler,  "  Hist,  of  Church,"  ii.,  452. 


THE  ANGELICAL  DOCTOR.  231 

enslaved,  and  corrupt  ;  on  ihe  otlier  is  ihe  New  Man, 
Jesus  Christ,  the  AU-riohieoui  c'nd  Univer:-:al  ilcalcr. 
That  the  streams  of  ;;racc  might  flov.-  from  Christ  into 
the  broken  and  soi'rowin-:  heart  of  th-^  sinner,  there 
required  seme  cormecting  media  whereby  the  two 
extremes  might  be  Drought  hito  union,  and  by  which 
man  might  partake  abundaiitly  of  the  virtue  which  is 
stored  up  in  Christ.  The  Sacraments  foruu:.-i  these 
media,  and  Aquinas  found  ready  to  his  jk 'id  rich 
accumulation  of  material  on  this  subject.  Kspo:iaily 
the  controversies  of  preceding  centuries,  loue:'ii-  out  by 
Pascliasius  Radbertus,  Erigena,  Berrngari:is,  Xatramnus, 
Ansehn,  ]\ter  Lombard,  and  others  concerning  the 
Eucharist,  showed  how  effectually  that  Sacrament  was 
assuming  importance  over  all  the  re'-.t.  Pic  soughi  to 
exert  all  the  dialectic  skill  and  all  the  -tor^  of  learning 
he  possessed  to  harmonize  with  reason  and  science  the 
views  which  the  accepted  teachers  of  the  Church  were 
urging,  and  to  demonstrate  how  the  elements  in  the 
Lord's  Supper  were  converted  into  the  Divinity  and 
HumariLy  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  It  would  be  far  beyond 
the  purj'ose  cf  this  volume  to  enumerate  the  endless 
questions,  ramificatiotis,  and  refinements  v-hich  Aquinas 
enters  upon  in  order  to  c'efend  the  theor)^  of  the  Church, 
and  to  present  in  its  full  development  the  doctrine  of 
Transubstantiation.  It  is  sufficient  to  say  that  if  he 
docs  not  command  the  assent  of  his  readers  to  the 
doctrine  he  enforces  by  the  convincing  nature  of  his 
logic,  he  does  excite  their  amazement  by  tlie  exquisite 
metaphysical  acutencss  ho  manifests,  and  on  the  part 
of  many  deep  regret  will  be  felt  that  such  transcendent 
ability  should  have  been  spent  for  such  a  purpose. 

As   an   instance   of   the  refined  dialectics  which  he 
brought  to  bea"  upon  the  subject,  and  also  to  show  the 


2J2        GREA  r  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

extreme  point  of  Realism  which  he  reached,  Aquinas 
urged  that  so  long  as  the  emblems  of  the  bread  and 
wine  were  sensibly  present,  so  long  in  the  same  manner 
as  the  substance  of  both  was  before  contained  under 
these  emblems,  the  Body  of  Christ  was  present  under 
the  same,  and  even  if  an  animal  nibbled  the  consecrated 
elements,  the  substance  of  Christ's  Body  did  not  dis- 
appear thereby.  Neither,  he  held,  did  that  Body  suffer 
in  dignity,  because  without  loss  of  dignity  he  had  sub- 
mitted to  crucifixion  by  sinners,  and  this  the  more  as 
it  was  only  the  Body  of  Christ  in  respect  •'  to  these 
emblems,  and  not  in  its  proper  essence^  that  was  affected 
thereby.  But  such  like  abstract  and  minutely  distinc- 
tive processes  are  endless  and  wearisome  in  his  treat- 
ment of  this  question. 

Up  to  the  day  of  Aquinas  the  number  of  the 
Sacraments  had  been  a  matter  of  dispute  amongst 
Church  teachers,  but  his  teaching  had  such  authority 
that  henceforth  the  sacred  number  of  seven  was  iixed 
upon,  which  seven  were  Baptism,  the  Eucharist,  Penance, 
Confirmation,  Ordination,  Matrimony,  and  Extreme 
Unction,  of  which  he  defines  the  offices  with  great  clear- 
ness.' Some,  as  Baptism,  the  Lord's  Supper,  Penance, 
Confirmation,  and  Extreme  Unction,  are  intended  for 
the  spiritual  perfecting  of  the  individual  members  of 
the  Church,  but  others,  as  Holy  Orders  and  Matrimony, 
for  the  growth  and  benefit  of  the  whole  Church.  By 
Baptism,  we  are  spiritually  regenerated  ;  by  Confirma- 
tion, we  increase  in  Divine  Grace  and  renew  our  faith  ; 
by  the  Eucharist,  we  receive  Divine  nutriment  for  the 
renewing  and  invigorating  of  our  souls,  when  we  have 
incurred  the  sorrow  of  sin  in  our  lives  ;  by  Penance  we 
recover  spiritual  health,  and  as  life  is  departing  evil  is 
»  Note  p-. 


THE  ANGELICAL  DOCTOR.  233 

banished  from  both  soul  and  body  by  Extren:ie  Unction. 
By  those  in  Holy  Orders,  the  true  Church  is  governed 
and  multiplied  spiritually,  and  by  Matrimony  its  cor- 
porate estate  is  augmented.  He  taught  also,  as  was 
held  by  most  mediaeval  writers,  that  Baptism  and  the 
Eucharist  are  the  chief  Sacraments. 

Concerning  the  views  of  Aquinas  on  Escha'tology,  it 
is  not  needful  to  dwell  at  length  ;  he  taught  the  gene- 
rally received  doqtrine  of  the  resurrection  of  the  dead, 
and  delighted  to  exercise  his  philosophical  acumen 
in  speculations  concerning  the  resurrection  body  ;  he 
believed  in  the  second  coming  of  the  Lord  Jesus  to 
judge  the  world,  and  that  the  judgment  will  take  place 
mentaliter,  because  a  separate  and  verbal  trial  of  the 
individual  would  consume  an  almost  infinite  period  of 
time;  he  accepted  the  doctrine  of  Purgatory,  and 
affirmed  that  the  purifying  fire  was  not  a  metaphor  of 
speech,  nor  a  rire  of  the  imagination,  but  a  real  material 
fire,  which  in  the  absence  of  a  material  body  unll  afflict 
the  souls  which  pass  through  it  in  an  ideal  manner. 
He  believed,  however,  that  only  those  who  require  it 
pass  through  purgator>',  while  the  really  holy  are 
exalted  at  once  to  bliss,  and  the  desperately  wicked  are 
doomed  to  hell.  In  hell  are  different  departments, 
corresponding  to  the  degrees  of  wickedness  in  men,  and 
so  also  with  Purgatory  and  Paradise  ;  there  are  different 
states  of  blessedness  for  the  righteous  ;  the  fires  of  hell 
he  held  to  be  material  fire,  although  the  misery  of  the 
lost  consists  principally  in  unavailing  repentance  ;  this 
repentance  is  not  the  godly  sorrow  which  needeth  not 
to  be  repented  of,  but  that  which  rebels  against  the 
endurance  of  the  penalty  without  mourning  for  the  evil 
of  the  sin.  Thus  he  inscribed  over  the  portals  of  the 
abode  of  future  woe,  "  Abandon  hope,  all  \e  who  enter 
here." 


234-         CRRAT  SCirOOLMKN  OF  j  HE  MIDDLE  ACES. 

The  Ethical  systejp  framed  by  Aquinas  has  extorted 
the  highest  praise  from  all  parties.  In  the  Secunda 
SeamdiB,  which  is  chieiiy  dev'oted  to  this  department 
of  philosophy,  he  takes  a  full  and  comprehensive  vien' 
o(  human  natui""  in  its  moral  sentiments  and  actions  ; 
he  investigates  tiie  Oduses  of  action,  and  carefully  con- 
siders ho'vv  the  principles  of  action  in  huuian  nature  p.ie 
affected  or  modified  by  divine  grace.  He  discusses  the 
virtues  in  succession,  a'i>d  succeeds  in  framir.g  a  mouil 
code  that  was  the  rule  of  Christendom  for  age:,  arid 
which  is  still  regarded  by  all  Ethical  writers  with 
admiration.  He  successful!_v  combines  the  moral  teach- 
ings of  Aristotle  with  the  higher  spirit  of  Christianity/ 

In  treating  of  the  si'ujert  of  jurisprudence,  he  was 
led  by  the  principles  hv  ^d-  >pted  into  conclusions  which, 
if  followed  out  to  their  iast  rcsuh.  would  produce  the 
most  corr.plete  overthrow  of  all  tyranny  both  civil  and 
ecclesiastical.  He  insists  that  in  the  reason  of  man 
law  is  dominant.  It  is  a  standard  of  human  action,  and 
must  be  considered  as  the  rale  ind  measure  of  all  acts 
of  the  reason,  A  law  '  thus  existing  is  powerfully 
operative,  and  the  acts  of  the  reason  are  within  its 
operations.  But  this  touches  also  the  action  of  the 
will,  in  the  artainmcnt  of  the  ends  of  which  reason 
co-operates  actively  and  effectually.  These  ideas  he 
applies  to  soci.d  and  politicaJ  life  ;  he  affirms  that  tlie 
v/ill  oi  the  majority  of  the  pe(.ple  is  the  only  really 
governing  and  legislative  authority  ;  that  the  Prince  is 
only  the  interpreter  and  executor  of  the  will  of  the 
great  body  of  the  nation.  Thus  he  anticipated  some  of 
the  most  earnest  pleaders  for  constitutional  liberty  in 
laying  down  this  principle  as  a  corner-sicne  of  his 
sy.^tern,  and  especially,  as   Professor  Maurice   has  well 

1  NoteC. 


THE  ANGELICAL  DOCTOR.  235 

pointed  out,  he  anticipated  Locke  in  advocating  a  v'ew 
of  so  democratic  a  tendency,  which  couid  not  fail  to 
produce  practical  fruit  in  the  course  of  succeeding  age.s. 
Without  doubt,  his  writings  contain  much  that  is 
erroneous,  much  that  is  fantastic,  and,  judged  by  a 
nineteenth  century  standard,  much  that  is  ridiculous  ; 
but  through  the  vast  and  curious  fabric  ti:ere  are  many 
golden  threads  interwoven.  His  Surima  especially  is 
an  immortal  memorial  of  indomitable  patience,  of  pene- 
trating logical  insight,  and  of  unquenciiabic  zeal  in  the 
cause  of  truth  and  knowledge.  It  is  painfully  cumbrous 
in  method,  and  inconclusive  in  some  of  its  reasonings, 
but  of  these  his  circumstances  and  conditions  must 
share  the  responsibility  and  condemnation,  while  to 
himself  must  be  reckoned  the  merit  of  the  many  noble 
features  which  characterise  his  productions.  His  style 
was  very  lucid,  his  appreciation  of  Evangelical  princi- 
ples in  relation  to  human  sin,  the  Incarnation,  and  the 
Atonement,  was  profound  ;  his  masterly  vindication  of 
the  right  of  reason  to  judge  on  subjcctb  sacred  and 
ecclesiastical  constituted  him  a  friend  to  religious  free- 
dom, and  a  forerunner,  early  indeed  and  not  fully 
recognised  as  such  to  this  day,  of  the  Reformation 
which  ushered  in  a  brighter  day  of  truth.  To  regret 
that  he  was  unable  to  break  through  his  surroundings 
and  rise  into  a  brighter  region  of  spiritual  light  and 
liberty,  is  to  regret  that  man  cannot  anticipate  the  pro- 
vidential hour,  nor  rise  to  the  perfect  state  without 
passing  through  the  necessary  nurture  and  discipline 
out  of  which  human  perfection  alone  can  come.  It  is 
to  regret  that  Roger  Bacon  did  not  discover  the  printing 
press,  and  that  Caedmon  did  not  produce  the  works  of 
Shakespeare.  If  Aquinas  had  been  able  to  accomplish 
the  impossibilities  of  rising  into  the  clear  white  light  of 


2j5        GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

advanced  truth,  and  of  grasping  the  perfect  principles  of 
Church  life  and  work,  he  would  have  raised  the  standard 
of  revolt  against  ecclesiastical  authority  and  tyranny 
only  to  have  ignominiously  lost  the  battle,  and  v/ould 
have  thrown  ':he  day  of  emancipation  back  for  ages ; 
he  would  have  implicated  the  battle  of  humanity 
before  the  "  fulness  of  time  "  had  come,  and  before  the 
conditions  of  success  existed.  In  such  a  case  any 
handful  of  enlightened  souls  who  had  hastened  to. his 
side  would  have  been  struck  down  by  the  mailed  hand 
of  power,  and  he  would  have  been  overwhelmed  by 
persecution  and  death.  But  by  the  will  of  God,  with 
much  that  was  philosophically  and  theologically  un- 
sound, he  enshrined  in  his  pages  a  body  of  Sacred 
divinity  which  waG  interfused  with  Bible  light,  and  also 
urged  the  exercise  of  reason  as  the  arbiter  of  truth, 
doing  all  this  with  a  force  of  logic,  a  keenness  of  vision, 
and  an  ardour  of  devotion  which  has  made  him  one  of 
the  mightiest  creators  of  opinion  the  world  has  known, 
and  which  has  aided  largely  in  quickening  the  thought 
of  succeeding  generations.' 

Note  A. 

"  The  aim  of  Aquinas  as  a  Christian  philosopher  was  Xb  prove 
the  reasonableness  of  Christianity,  which  he  attempted  to  accom- 
pb'^h  by  showing,  ist,  that  it  contains  a  portion  pf  truth;  2nd, 
that  it  falls  under  the  cognizance  of  reason  ;  and  3rd,  that  it  con- 
tains nothing  contradictory  to  reason.  In  connection  with  the 
latter  argument,  he  starts  from  the  assumption  that  the  truths  of 
reason  are  essentially  one  'with  Divine  truth  because  reason  is 
derived  from  God,  Philosophy  consists,  according  to  him,  in  Science 
searching  for  truth  with  the  instrument  of  human  reason,  but  he 
maintains  that  it  was  necessary  for  the  salvation  of  man  that  Divine 
Revelation  should  disclose  to  him  certain  things  transcending  the 
grasp  of  human  reason.     He  regarded  Theology,  thefefore,  as  the 

'  Note  H. 


THE  Ai\CELICAL  DOCTOR.  237 

offspring  of  the  union  of  philosophy  and  religion,  and  as  a  science 
derived  from  the  principles  of  a  higher  Divine  and  spiritual  science." 
— Tennetnan,  "  Manual,"  p.  237, 

Note  B. 

"  It  behoves  us  in  what  wc  say  of  the  Trinity  to  beware  ot  two 
opposite  errors,  teinperUely  proceeding  between  both  ;  the  error 
of  Ariusi  who  laid  dowri  with  the  Trinity  of  jPersons  a  Trinity  of 
Substances ;  and  the  error  of  Sabellius,  who  laid  down  with  the 
unity  of  Essence  an  unity  of  Person.  To  escape,  then,  the  error 
of  Arius  we  must  avoid  in  Divine  things  the  terms  Diversity  and 
Difference,  lest  the  unity  of  Essence  be  destroyed.  We  may,  how- 
ever, use  the  term  Distinction  on  account  of  the  Relative  Opposition. 
\Vhence,  if  anywhere,  in  any'authentic  Scripture,  diversity  or  differ- 
ence of  Persons  is  found,  diversity  or  difference  is  taken  for  dis- 
tinction. Again,  that  the  Sitnpiicity  of  the  Divine  Essence  may 
not  be  destroyed,  the  terms  Separation  and  Division  must  be 
avoided,  wnich  are  of  a  whole  into  parts.  Again,  that  Equality  may 
not  be  destroyed,  the  term  Disparity  must  be  avoided.  Further, 
that  similitude  may  not  be  destroyed,  the  terms  Alieti  and  Dis- 
crepant must  be  avoided.  Further,  to  avoid  the  error  of  Sabellius, 
we  should  devoid,  singularity,  that  the  commuhicability  of  the  Divine 
Essence  may  not  be  destroyed.  We  ought  also  to  avoid  the  terms 
One,  Only,  Unicum,  that  the  Number  of  Persons  may  not  be  de- 
stroyed. The  ♦erm  Solitary  aJso  must  be  avoided,  lest  the  Asso- 
ciation of  Three  Persons  be  destroyed." — "  Aq.  Summa,"  P.  I.,  qu. 
xxxi.,  art.  2  ;  quoted  "  Hampden  Bamp,  Lect.,"  p.  136. 

Note  C. 

"  Ad  primum  ergo  dicendum  quod  ly  se  est  reciprocum  et  refer, 
idem  suppositum.  Natura  autem  divina  non  dilfert  supposito  a 
persona  Verbi ;  et  'deo  inquantnm  natura  divina  sumit  naturam 
humanam  ad  person&.n  Verbi.  dicit^r  earn  se  sumere.  Sed  quamuis 
Fatei'  sumat  naturam  liumanani  a<i  f>ersona  Verbi  non  tamen  propter 
hoc  sumit  eam  ad  se  ;  quia  non  est  idem  suppositum  Patris  et  Verbi 
et  ideo  non  potest  dici  propria  quod  Pater  assuiuat  naturam  huma 
tiam.  Ad  secundum  dicendum,  quod  illud  quod  convenit  natura; 
divina;  secundum  se,  convenit  tribus  personis,  sicut  bonitas  sapientia 
et  hujus  modi.  Sed  assumere  rr>nvenit  ei  ratione  personae  Verbi 
sicut  dictum  esc.     Et  ideo  soli  illi  pcrsonse  convenit 


2,58  GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

.  "Ad  tertium  dicendum,  quod  sicut  in  Deo  idem  est  quod  est  et 
quo  est ;  ita  etiam  in  eo  idem  est  quod  agit  et  id  quo  agit ;  quia  unum 
quodquc  agit  in  quantum  est  ens.  Unde  natura  divina  est  illud, 
quo  Deus  agit  et  est  ip;-c  Deus  agens. — "  Summa,"  P.  III.,  qu.  iii., 
art.  2. 

Note  D. 

Superabundant  Satisf,     "  Conclusio. 

"Passio  Cbristi  non  solum  sufficicns  sed  superabundans  satisfactio 
fiiit  pro  peccatis  hamani  generis  propter  passionis  generalitatem  et 
vitcC  depositie  dignitatem  et  denique  charitatis  magnitudinem." — 
'•'  Summa,"  P.  III.,  qu.  .\lviii.,  art.  2. 

Note  E. 

"  Respondeo  dicendum  quod  predestmatio  secundum  rationem 
prcesupponit  electiouem  et  electio  dilectionem.  Cujus  ratio  est,  quia 
prajdestinatio  (ut  dictum  est)  est  pars  providentia:.  Providentia 
autem  sicut  et  prudentia  est  ratio  in  intellcctu  existens  preceptia 
ordinationis  aliquorem  in  fmem,  ut  supra  dictum  est.  Non  autem 
pnecipitur  aliquid  ordinandum  in  fmem  nisi  prse  existente  voluntate 
finis.  Unde  prtEdestinatio  aliquorum  in  salutem  feternam  pra;- 
supponit  secundum  rationem  quod  Deus  illorumvelit  salutem.  Ad 
quod  pertinet  electio  et  dilectio.  Dilectio  quidem  in  quantum  vult 
eis  hoc  bonum  salutis  EEternae.  Nam  diligere  est  velle  aiicui  bona 
ut  supra  dictum  est.  Electio  autem  in  quantu  hoc  bonum  aliquibus 
prie  alliis  vult  cum  quosdam  reprobat  ut  supra  dictum  est.  Electio 
tamen  et  dilectio  aliter  ordinantur  in  nobis  et  in  Deo  eo  quod  in 
nobis  voluntas  diligendo  non  causat  bonum  sed  ex  bono  prnsexistente 
incitamm-  ad  diligendum  ct  ideo  eligimus  aliquem  quern  diligamus. 
Et  sic  electio  dilectionem  pra^ccdit  in  nobis.  In  Deo  autem  est 
e  converso.  Nam  voluntas  ejus  qua  vult  bonum  aiicui  diligendo 
est  causa  quod  illud  bonum  ab  eo  pras  alliis  habeatur.  Et  sic  patet, 
quod  dilectio  prror-upponitur  electioni  secundum  rationem  et  electio 
predesiinationi.  ITnde  omnes  praedestinati  sunt  electi  et  dilecti. — 
"Summa,"  P.  I.,  qu.  xxiii.,  art.  4. 

Note  F. 

"  Per  Eaplismum  spiritualiter  renasimur,  per  Confirmationem 
augomur  in  gratia  et  roboramur  in  fide ;  renati  in  autem  et  robo- 
rati,  nutrimur  divina  Eucharistice  alimonia.  Quod  si  per  peccatum 
aigritudinem  incurrimus  animal  per  Pcenitcntiam  spiritualiter  Sana- 


THE  ANGELICA L  DOCTOR.  239 

ir.ur,  sfiritualitcr  etinm  ct  corpoivilitcr,  prout   animae  e.xpedit,  per 
fxtrenurn  Unctionem.     Per  Oidinei^  vero  ecclcsu  g^ubernatur  et 
iriullip'icalur  sjjiiitualiter  per  Matrimonium  cotj-oraliter  au^t-mr.'' — 
Sum;n<t,''  T,  III.,  qu.  txv..  art.  i. 

NorE  G. 

"  The  ethical  sjsten  of  the  Schoolmen,  or.  to  speak  more  pro- 
perly, of  Aquinas  a.s  ti.c  Moral  Master  of  Clirisie adorn  for  three 
centuries,  was  in  its  practical  part  so  excellent  as  to  leave  little 
need  of  extensive  change  with  the  inevitable  exception  ot  the  con- 
nection ot  hi*,  religious  opinions  with  his  precepts  and  counsels. 
His  Rule  of  Life  is  neither  la.\-  nor  impracticable.  His  grounds  jf 
duly  are  solely  laid  in  the  narurr-  of  man  and  in  the  wcUbring  of 
society.  Such  an  intruder  as  Subtlety  seldom  strays  into  his  moral 
instrurlions.  \V;ih  a  most  imperfect  knowledge  ot  the  Peripatetic 
writings,  he  came  near  the  Great  Master  by  abbtaining  in  practical 
philosophy  from  the  unsuitable  exercise  of  thai  faculty  of  dislincti')n 
in  which  he  would  probably  ha\'e  unown  that  he  was  little  inferior 
to  Aristotle  if  he  had  been  equally  uniestrained.  His  very  frequent 
coincidence  with  modem  moralists  is  doubtless  to  be  ascribed 
thief.y  to  the  nature  of  the  subject.  Put  in  part  also  to  that  unbroken 
succession  of  teachers  and  writeis  which  preserved  the  observations 
contained  in  what  had  lonj.^  been  the  text-book  of  the  European 
schriils,  after  the  books  themselves  had  been  for  ages  banished 
and  forgot f;n.  The  praises  bestowed  on  Aquinas  by  every  one  of 
the  few  ^reat  men  who  appear  to  have  examined  his  writings  since 
the  downfall  of  his  power,  amongst  whom  may  be  mentioned 
Erasmus,  Crrotius,  and  Leibnitz,  are  chiefly,  though  not  solely,  refer- 
able to  his  ethical  works." — Mackintosh,  i.,  48. 

Note  H. 

"His  name  is  familiar  to  every  one  as  ih;,-  representative  of  the 
class  to  which  he  belongs.  That  very  familian!.y  is  an  evidence 
of  the  conspicuous  place  which  lie  holds  amongst  the  Theological 
Philosophers  of  the  Middle  Age.  But  we  have  been  laugiit  at  the 
same  time  to  associate  his  name  with  all  ihat  is  dark  in  Religion 
or  in  Philosophy  ;  and  we  are  apt  to  think  of  hini  therefore  with 
some  degree  of  ridicule  or  contempt  as  unv.-cvihy  of  the  serious 
inquiry  of  enlightened  times.  In  truth,  however,  Aquinas,  when 
impartially  ex;xmincd,  will  be  found  not  to  shrink  from  a  comparison 


240  GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

with  the  philosophers  of  the  brightest  period  of  liteiature.  If  we 
are  to  judge  of  the  Philosopher  from  the  intrinsic  powers  of  mind 
displayed,  independently  of  the  results  attained  by  hinj,  which 
chiefly  depend  on  the  concourse  of  favourable  circumstances,  then 
may  Aquinas  be  placed  in  the  first  rank  of  Philosophy.  If  pene- 
tration of  thought,  comprehensiveness  of  views,  exactness  the  most 
minute,  an  ardour  of  inquiry  the  most  keen,  a  patience  of  pursuit 
the  most  unwearied,  are  among  the  merits  of  the  Philosopher,  then 
may  Aquinas  dispute  even  the  first  place  among  the  candidates 
for  the  supremacy  in  speculative  science." — Hampden^  "Aquinas 
Encyc.  Met.,"  xi.,  793. 

Note  I. 

Scholasticism  throughout  was  mainly  eclectic,  and  Aquinas  fully 
represented  its  real  spirit ;  che  following  extract  presents  a  fair 
idea  of  it  in  this  resnect : — 

'*  It  was  pure  Idealism  so  far  as  Platonism  predominated  in  it ; 
it  was  Realism  so  far  as  the  Logical  or  peculiarly  Aristotelic  cha- 
racter pervaded  the  system.  Idealism  describes  the  system  itself 
as  to  the  nature  of  the  principles  on  which  it  was  founded,  Realism 
describes  the  Method  of  investigation  pursued,  the  action  of  those 
Logical  processes  by  which  it  explored  the  Truth.  We  may  cha- 
racterize Scholasticism  truly  by  one  or  the  other  of  these  two  desig- 
nations according  as  we  look  to  its  internal  nature,  or  to  its  Logical 
method  of  proceeding. 

"  The  Scholastic  Philosophy  is  the  only  system  in  wliicli  Idealisni 
and-  Realism  have  completely  coincided.  Plato  gave  the  name 
indeed  of  Dialectic  to  the  Supreme  Science  ;  for  the  train  of  thought 
by  which  he  arrived  at  his  theory  of  Ideas  naturally  suggested  that 
name  as  the  designation  of  the  Science  of  Ideas.  ...  In  Aristotle 
there  is  a  great  deal  of  Realism,  especially  in  his  Physical  Philo* 
sophy,  which  is  for  the  most  part  an  assumed  Science  of  Nature 
deduced  from  the  abstractions  of  Language.  At  the  same  time 
his  views  are  entirely  adverse  to  Idealism,  and  no  philosopher  of 
antiquity  has  displayed  so  fully  through  his  writings  the  scientific 
value  of  experience  and  observation.  But  in  the  Schoolmen  Idealism 
and  Realism  go  hand  in  hand.  In  them  there  is  no  proper  appeal 
to  experience  and  observation.  The  visible  world  is  to  them,  only 
a  shadow  and  a  type  of  the  Metaphybical,  a  writing  as  it  were  in 
cipher  to  be  read  by  the  key  of  those  recondite  truths  which  exist 
in  the  secret  chambers  of  the  intellect.  .  But  their  Very  business  is 


THE  ANGELICAL  DOCTOR.  241 

argumentation.  And  thus  conclusions,  indicating  nothing  more 
than  connections  of  thought  in  the  mind,  are  continually  realized  in 
their  mode  of  speculation,  applied,  that  is,  as  if  they  were  indications 
of  real  connections  of  Nature.  This  Idealism  and  this  Realism 
correspoad  with  the  mystical  and  the  argumentative  character  which 
were  combined  in  the  system." — Hampden^  "Aquinas  Encyc.  Met.," 
xi.,  p.  807. 


16 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THE  SUBTLE  DOCTOR— DUNS  SCOTUS. 


'•The  rude  discursive  thinker  is  the  Scholastic.  The  true  Scholastic  is 
a  mystical  sr.l'tlist ;  out  of  logical  atoms  he  builds  his  universe  ;  he  ar.niiu- 
lates  all  living  Nature  to  put  an  artifice  of  thoughts  in  its  room.  His  airn 
is  an  infinite  automaton.  Opposite  to  him  is  the  nide  intuitive  poet :  this 
is  a  mystical  macrolugist  ;  he  hates  rules  and  fixed  form  ;  a  wild,  violent 
life  reigns  instead  of  it  in  Nature  ;  all  is  animate,  no  law  ;  wilfulness  and 
wonde"-  ei'erywhere.  He  is  merely  dvmamical.  Thus  docs  the  philosophic 
spirit  rise  at  first  in  altogether  separate  masses.  In  the  second  stage  of 
culture  these  masses  begi"  to  come  into  contact,  multifariously  enough  ; 
and,  as  in  the  union  of  innnite  c^■tremes,  the  finite,  the  limited  arises,  so 
here  also  arise  '  eclectic  philosophers '  without  number,  the  time  of  mis- 
understanding begins.  The  roost  limited  is  in  this  stage  the  most  impor- 
tant, the  purest  philosopher  of  the  second  stage.  This  class  occupies  itself 
wholly  Vv'ith  the  actual  present  -world  in  the  strictest  sense.  The  philo- 
sophers of  the  first  class  look  down  v/ith  contempt  on  those  of  the  second  ; 
say,  they  are  a  little  of  ever)':hing  and  do  nothing  ;  hold  their  views  as  the 
results  of  weakness,  as  inconseqv-entis'n.  On  the  contrary,  the  second  class, 
in  their  turn,  pity  the  first, —lay  the  blame  on  their  visionary  enthusiasm, 
■ophich  ihcy  i-ay  is  absurd  even  toiiisaiiUy." — Novalis,  translated  by  Carlj/le. 


XV. 

THE  SUBTLE  DOCTOR—DUNS  SCOTUS. 

Duns  Scotus  was  probably  born  about  the  year  1274. 
It  was  noted  by  the  members  of  the  Franciscan  Order 
as  a  remarkable  providence,  that  in  the  very  year  in 
which  their  most  shining  ornament.  Bonavtntura,  was 
called  from  his  earthly  labours,  one  equally  great  and 
celebrated,  who  afterwards  raised  their  fame  still  liigher, 
was  born.  The  place  of  his  birth  is  involved  in  hope- 
less myster>',  and  has  given  rise  to  disputations  as  keen 
as  those  concerning  the  birthplace  of  Homer.  Leland 
earnestly  insists  that  England  produced  him,  whilst 
Dempster  published  a  quarto  volume  to  prove,  by  twelve 
convincing  arguments,  his  Scotch  descent ;  and  Wad- 
ding is  more  positive  than  either  that  to  Ireland 
belonged  the  honour  of  giving  him  to  the  v.orld. 
England  claim.s  him  chiefly  because  he  probably  derived 
his  name  from  the  village  of  Dunston  in  Northumber- 
land ;  Scotland,  maybe,  considers  that  the  land  v/hich 
produced  Hume,  Reid,  Stewart,  and  Hamilton  was 
alone  able  to  produce  so  incomparable  a  logician  as 
Duns  ;  whilst  Ireland,  unable  to  produce  better  argu- 
ments than  these,  urges  its  suit  with  a  vehemence,  not 
to  say  abusiveness,  which  argues  either  an  absence  of 
proof,  which  must  be  supplied  by  an  overflow  of  posi- 


246         GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  ACES. 

tiveness,  or  such  abundance  of  it  as  to  justify  extreme 
dogmatism,  but  which,  for  an  unknown  reason,  has 
been  withheld  from  posterity.  This  unprofitable  dis- 
cussion may  be  fitly  left  to  those  who  have  no  serious 
work  to  perform  in  life. 

It  is  said  that  when  he  was  a  boy  he  attracted  the 
attention  of  two  Franciscan  monks,  who,  struck  with 
his  abilities,  received  him  into  their  convent  at  New- 
castle-upon-Tyne. Thence  he  went  to  Oxford,  and 
studied  at  Merton  College,  He  manifested  the  most 
remarkable  facility  for  gaining  knowledge,  and  especially 
for  the  study  of  mathematics.  On  completing  his  edu- 
cation he  took  the  chair  of  his  master,  William  Varron, 
who  removed  to  Paris  ;  and  his  lectures  displayed  such 
profound  learning  and  conspicuous  ability,  that  pupils 
gathered  round  hirn  in  crowds.  Not  less  than  thirty 
thousand  students  flocked  to  listen  to  him,  it  is  said  ; 
but  this  is  difficult  to  digest.^  From  Oxford  he  went 
to  Paris,  in  1304,  and  after  winning  great  fame  by  his 
lectures  in  the  University,  he  received  the  degree  of 
Doctor,  and  vi^as  appointed  regent  of  the  Theological 
school  in  1307. 

In  his  lectures  in  Paris  he  controverted  several  of  the 
positions  taken  by  Thomas  Aquinas,  but  he  won  his 
fame  chiefly  by  his  defence  of  the  Immaculate  Con- 
ception of  the  Virgin  Mary.  He  discoursed  on  this 
subject  before  immense  crowds  of  enthusiastic  followers, 
scattering,  so  said  his  admirers,  two  hundred  objections 
raised  against  the  doctrine  by  Albertus  Magnus,  Thomas 
Aquinas,  and  other  Church  Fathers  and  Doctors.  In 
1307  he  obtained  the  crowning  glory  of  his  life,  for  it 
is  on  solemn  record  that,  after  pleading  the  cause  of  the 
Virgin,  while  he  bowed  before  her  image  in  deep  devo- 
*  Milman,  "  Hist.  Lat.  Christ,,"  ix.,  141. 


7HE  SUBTLE  DOCTOR.  247 

tion,  she  condescendingly  bowed   her   head,  and  thus 
afforded  him  evidence  of  her  pleasure  and  assistance. 
As  a  more  tangible  result  of  his  marvellous  perform- 
ances, he  received  the  singularly  suitable  title  of  "  the 
Subtle  Doctor,"  and  a  festival  of  the  Virgin  was  insti- 
tuted to  signalise  the  exposition   and  triumph  of  his 
views.    In  1308  he  was  sent  to  Cologne  by  the  General 
of  the  Franciscan   order.     The    circumstances  of  this 
appointment  illustrate  his  perfect  submission  to  the  will 
of  his  superiors,  and  show  how  little  he  had  allowed  his 
intellectual  triumphs  to  puff  him  up  with  vanity.     On 
a  certain  day  he  had  retired  to  some  fields  outside  of 
the  city,  accompanied  by  some  of  his  pupils,  and  was 
indulging  with  them  in  pleasant  recreation.     There  the 
letter  was  delivered  to  him    from  the  Superior  of  his 
Order   commanding    him    to    Cologne,     Immediately, 
without  hesitating  for  one  moment,  without  conferring 
with  flesh  and  blood,  he  started,  bidding  the   friends 
with  him  a  kind  adieu,  but  not  returning  to  his  convent 
to  collect  his  books  or  writings,  or  to  take  leave  of  his 
brethren.     Those  who  were  with  him  asked  him  if  he 
would  not  return  to  say  farewell  to  the  brothers  in  the 
convent,  and  his  reply  shows  the  entire,  if  not  slavish, 
obedience  of  his  soul :  "  The  Father-General  tells  me 
to  go  to  Cologne,  not  to  go  and  salute  the  brethren  in 
the  convent."  * 

The  reasons  dictating  his  removal  from  the  scene  of 
his  unrivalled  popularity  and  fame  cannot  be  ascer- 
tained, although  it  is  surmised  that  his  presence  in 
Cologne  was  required  in  a  dispute  with  the  Beghards, 
who  were  then  beginning  to  rouse  into  rebellion  against 
the  Pope  a  portion  of  the  Franciscan  Order  ;  but  it  is 
more  likely  that  his  labours  in  Cologne  were  to  be 
Duns  Scoti,  Vita  a,"  L.  Wadding,  11. 


1  (( 


?4S         GREA  T  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

used  in  the  promotion  of  an  intended  university  there. 
When  he  arrived  in  the  city  he  was  received  with  gpreat 
honour,  the  nobles,  magistrates,  and  chief  citizens  all 
turning  out  to  welcome  him.  He  did  not  live  long  in 
his  new  abode  ;  he  died  in  November  1308,  at  the  age 
of  thirty-four  years.  The  same  mystery  seems  to 
shroud  the  manner  of  his  death  as  the  place  of  his 
birth.  It  was  sudden  and  startling,  undoubtedly ;  his 
enemies — for  such  a  man  could  net  but  have  enemies 
— affirmed  that  for  some  secret  crime  he  was  smitten 
by  God  with  unconsciousness,  and  after  being  placed 
thus  in  his  coffin,  he  died  in  struggling  to  break  open 
the  lid.  His  adnn'rers  said  that  he  was  in  a  trance,  or 
divine  ecstasy,  and  was  thus  encoffined  alive.  Perhaps 
the  more  true,  though  less  romantic,  account  is  that  he 
died  of  apoplexy. 

That  Duns  should  have  died  so  young  and  yet  have 
accomplished  so  much  has  been  a  matter  of  scepticism 
with  many  writers,  but  there  is  no  real  ground  for 
rejecting  the  statement  of  his  biographers  except  the 
unlikelihood  of  it.  Such  thoughtful  and  careful  writers 
as  Hareau  and  Cousin  adopt  the  account  of  his  age 
without  scruple.  If  indeed  he  was  so  young  when 
death  came  to  him,  he  presents  the  most  remarkable 
instance  of  intellectual  productiveness  and  industry  in 
the  history  of  the  race.  His  works  were  very  numerous; 
the  principal  edition  of  them  was  that  published  at 
Lyons  in  1639,  in  twelve  closely-printed  folio  volumes, 
edited  by  Luke  Wadding,  who  also  wrote  a  life  of  him, 
filled  with  ridiculous  legends  and  miraculous  fables. 
Besides  the  works  included  in  this  edition  he  issued 
many  more,  consisting  of  commentaries  on  some  of  the 
books  of  the  Bible  and  numerous  sermons.  The  editiom 
of  his  books  only  contain  his  philosophical  and  contro- 


THE  SUBTLE  DOCTOR.  249 

versial  writings,  and  tliese  are  more  wonderful  for  their 
characteristic  features  than  for  their  extent.  They  do 
not  contain  one  superfluous  word  ;  they  are  unrelieved 
by  a  trace  of  illustration  or  metaphor  ;  they  are  an 
interminable  series  of  perfectly  faultless  logical  reason- 
ings. His  mind  possessed  the  power  of  exquisite  dis- 
crimination, and  was  of  uncommon  solidity — it  seemed 
to  be  a  logical  machine  of  consummate  and  unparalleled 
completeness  ;  but  whilst  working  with  the  order  and 
precision  of  a  machine,  he  was  not  therefore  destitute 
of  the  sensibility  and  devoutness  of  a  pious  heart.  The 
estimate  formed  of  his  logical  power  by  the  eloquent 
historian  of  Latin  Christianity  is  not  more  than  just:' 
"  The  mind  of  Duns  might  seem  a  wonderful  reasoning 
machine  ;  whatever  was  thrown  into  it  came  out  in 
syllogisms  of  the  coarsest  pattern,  yet  in  perfect,  flawless 
pattern.  Logic  was  the  idol  of  Duns,  and  this  logic 
worship  is  the  key  to  his  whole  philosophy.  Logic  was 
asserted  by  him  not  to  be  an  art  but  a  science  :  ratio- 
cination was  not  an  instrument — a  means  of  discovering 
truth — it  was  an  ultimate  end  ;  its  conclusions  were 
truth,  even  his  language  was  logic  worship.*' 

In  point  of  style  his  writings  are  not  admirable. 
The  Latin  tongue,  which  at  the  best  is  not  the  sweetest 
instrument  of  thought,  degenerates  with  Duns  into  the 
harshest  jargon.  He  does  not  scruple  to  invent  words 
for  himself  when  the  old  verbal  signs  do  not  satisfy 
him,  and  this  fact  alone  makes  his  writings  unreadable 
by  any  but  experts.  Professor  Maurice  seems  to  dis- 
agree with  this  opinion.  He  says  :  "  We  have  not 
found  his  language  so  entirely  rugged  and  uncouth  as 
it  is  often  represented  to  be.  Aquinas  in  many 
respects  was  less  difficult ;  all  who  desire  to  have 
1  Milman,"Hist.  Lat.  Christ,"  ix.,  141. 


250         GREA  T  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  A  CES. 

their  intellectual  food  cooked  for  them  will  resort  to 
him.  Those  who  like  to  prepare  it,  and  now  and  then 
to  hunt  it  for  themselves,  will  find  their  interest  in 
accompanying  Duns."  '  But  this  statement  really  con- 
cedes what  it  is  written  to  deny  ;  certainly  his  style  is 
as  far  removed  from  the  ease  and  purity  of  that  of 
Erasmus  as  that  of  Erasmus  was  below  that  of  Cicero. 
This,  however,  is  not  the  worst  fault  in  the  mode  of 
writing  adopted  by  Duns  ;  it  was  immeasurably  below 
the  manner  of  Aquinas  in  philosophic  dignity  and 
calmness.  He  indulges  in  the  rudest  epithets  against 
his  opponents ;  they  are  "  the  most  vile  hogs,  the 
Saracens,"  "the  asses  the  Manicheans;"  and  the  high- 
minded,  learned  Arabian  Aristotelian  is  "  the  cursed 
Averroes." 

Notwithstanding  these  drawbacks,  Ritter  reckons 
him  to  have  been  the  most  acute,  subtle,  and  able  of 
the  Schoolmen,  a  verdict  which  cannot  be  accepted  as 
satisfactory.  The  genius  of  Aquinas  was  essentially 
constructive,  that  of  Duns  v/as  polemical.  He  could 
better  attack  and  demolish  the  teachings  of  others  than 
build  up  a  positive  and  harmonious  system  of  his  own. 
A  constructive  genius  is  of  a  higher  class  per  se  than  a 
critical  one.  Then  he  accepted,  with  unreserved  sub- 
mission, the  teachings  of  the  Church  and  all  meta- 
physical conclusions  which  accorded  with  its  decisions  ; 
but  he  rejected  the  philosophical  grounds  on  which 
preceding  Schoolmen  had  sought  to  -establish  them, 
and  received  them  only  in  obedience  to  the  will  of  God 
and  the  authority  of  the  Church.  This  spirit  led  him 
to  deny  the  position  of  Aquinas,  that  reason  and  Reve- 
lation are  two  distinct  sources  of  knowledge,  affirming 
that  there  is  no  true  knowledge  of  anything  knowable 
1  «  Mor.  and  Met.  Phil.,"  i.,  646. 


THE  SUBTLE  DOCTOR.  251 

apart  from  theology  as  based  on  the  Christian  Reve- 
lation. The  antagonism  between  him  and  Aquinas, 
both  on  this  and  other  subjects,  was  more  apparent 
than  real  ;  he  did  not  intend  to  divorce  faith  and 
reason,  philosophy  and  theology — he  believed  in  their 
perfect  harmony — but  he  insisted  that  reason  required 
to  be  supplemented  in  its  conclusions  by  Revelation, 
and  that  philosophy  to  be  true  must  be  in  agreement 
with  the  doctrine  of  the  Church.  Not  only  so,  when 
many  of  his  controversial  statements  are  fairly  v/eighed 
and  subjected  to  all  the  modifying  and  alleviating 
considerations  which  gather  around  them,  there  is  found 
to  be  not  nearly  so  much  difference  between  him  and 
those  whom  he  is  attacking  as  at  first  sight  would 
appear.  The  antagonism  between  him  and  Aquinas 
resulted  mainly  from  their  constitutional  difference : 
Duns  was  essentially  a  critic  and  a  polemic,  Aquinas 
was  a  philosopher  ;  the  two  occupying,  as  one  writer 
points  out,  a  somewhat  similar  position  to  each  other 
as  Kant  held  to  Leibnitz.' 

Owing  to  a  severe  scientific  and  mathematical  train- 
ing, and  possibly  also  to  his  Celtic  nature,  Duns  was 
led  to  submit  all  the  presumed  proofs  from  philosophy 
in  favour  of  theological  dogmas  to  the  most  keen  and 
microscopical  examination,  ar.d  hence  recognised  that 
many  of  them  were  not  real  proofs  at  dll,  and  could  not 
stand  the  test  of  rigorous  scrutiny.  In  one  respect, 
therefore,  we  must  suppose  that  the  movement  of  Duns 
was  a  movement  backwards  ;  the  struggle  of  his  great 
Scholastic  predecessors  had  been  to  rescue  Christian 
Dogma  from  the  clutches  of  mere  Church  authority, 
and  to  establish  it  on  philosophical  grounds  according 
to  the  method  of  Aristotle ;  a  great  gain  to  the  freedom 
'  Ueberweg,  "  Hist,  of  Phil.,"  i.,  454" 


252  GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  TJTE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

of  human  thought,  as  giving  opportunity  for  growth 
and  speculation,  but  still  far  from  being  the  ultimate 
or  right  foundation  on  which  Dogma  must  rest.  Still 
when  the  keen  critical  faculty  of  Duns  was  exercised 
to  show  the  insufficiency  of  such  a  basis  with  a  view  of 
carrying  it  back  to  Church  authority  and  tradition,  it 
only  proves  how  unprepared  the  world  was  for  the 
great  forward  movement  still  in  the  dim  future,  when 
Dogma  should  be  shown  to  rest  on  the  clear  and  simple 
statements  of  the  Word  of  God. 

On  the  subject  of  Universals,  Duns  differs  little  save 
in  words  from  Aquinas.  He  was  if  anything  more  of 
a  pure  Realist  and  less  of  an  Eclectic  than  he.  He 
accepted  the  teaching  of  the  previous  Schoolmen  con- 
cerning the  threefold  existence  of  Ideas,  ante  rem,  in  re^ 
post  rem,  i.e.,  as  Forms  in  the  Divine  Mind,  as  the 
essences  of  things,  and  as  concepts  arising  out  of 
cognitions.  He  rejects  a  bare  Nominalism,  and  says 
that  Universals  must  have  real  being,  as  otherwise  any 
knov/ledge  coming  through  our  concepts  would  be 
without  a  real  object.  All  scientific  knowledge  relates 
to  Universals,  and  unless  therefore  real  existence  belong 
to  them,  Science  is  a  mere  system  of  logic.  But  Duns 
differs  from  the  elder  Schoolmen  on  the  relation  of  the 
Universal  to  the  individual  He  draws  a  distinction 
between  the  Universal  and  its  Form,  and  between  the 
individual  and  Matter,  because  the  individual  as  the 
last  reality  only  arises  from  the  Universal  by  the 
addition  of  positive  determinations,  and  indeed  it  is 
only  when  the  individual  nature  is  added  that  the 
Universal  is  crowned  with  completeness.  As  a  judi- 
cious writer  aptly  puts  his  view  : — "  Just  as  animal 
becomes  Iiomo,  when  to  life  the  specific  difference  of 
humanitas  is  added,  so  homo  becomes  Socrates,  when  to 


THE  SUBTLE  DOC  TO  A.  253 

the  generic  and  specific  essence,  the  individual  charac- 
ter, the  Socratitas,  is  added.'"  Still,  Duns  strongly 
affirms  that  the  One  Efficient  Principle  which  is  the 
groundwork  of  his  s)stem  io  the  exemplar  of  all  Forms. 

"  Forms  which  are  united  to  Matter  are  the  more  perfect, 
the  more  particular  they  are.  Separate  the  Perm  from  the 
Matter,  and  the  <mse  becomes  reversed.  Then,  the  more 
Universal  the  Forms  are,  the  simpler  they  are ,  the  more 
simple  they  are,  the  more  they  have  of  action  and  perfection. 
The  highest  Form  is  the  simplest,  for  it  includes  alt  others 
within  itself  The  perfect  Being  is  the  self-existent  Whole. 
All  other  beings  exist  by  participation  of  this  Being.  The 
doctrine  that  the  Effirient  Cause  is  the  end  which  all  created 
beings  are  created  to  seek  is  deduced  from  the  effort  of  the 
soul  itself  That,  he  describes  as  the  ground  of  all  our  cer- 
tainty. Our  aspiration  after  an  Infinite  Good  is  the  witness  to 
us  that  that  Good  is,  that  it  is  the  cause  of  our  existence,  that 
we  are  meant  10  participate  in  it."^ 

Duns    complained    that,  perfect    as    the    system    of 

Aquinas  was,  it  had  one  great  defect  in  it.     It  had  no 

real  princ.-ple  of  individuation.      He  sought  to  discover, 

therefore,  not  only  how  all  things  conspire  to  one  great 

whole,  but  how  each  thing  becomes  that  identical   and 

particulaj"  tiling  apart  from  all  others.     This  no  doubt 

was  a  very  important  question,  and  is  really  agitating 

the  world  of  mJnd    at   present  as  profoundly  as  ever. 

Duns   attributed   more   substance   to    Universals    than 

Aquinas,  whilst    the    latter   carefully  excluded    Matter 

from    Universals,   and    said  it    was  the  individualising 

principle    in   separate  things.      Duns    boldly    affinr.ed 

that   Matter  was  supposed  in  all   spiritual  existences, 

God    excepted,   and    that  the   Spiritual    Form   has    its 

corresponding  Matter  just  as  Corporeal  Form  has  that 

which  pertains  to  it  and  brings  it  into  reality.^ 

'  Ueberweg"  Hist,  of  Phil.,"  i.,  455. 

*  Maurice,  Mor.  and  Met.  Phil.,"  i.,  648. 

'  Note  .\. 


254        GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

In  examining  Duns'  views  of  Christian  doctrine,  it 
will  be  found  that  he  departed  very  widely  on  some 
points  from  Aquinas,  and  this  gave  occasion  for  the 
bitter  and  resounding  controversies  of  the  rival  Schools 
of  Thomists  and  Scotists  in  the  succeeding  centuries. 
He  gave  a  clear  and  forcible  account  of  the  grounds  of 
his  belief  in  the  Christian  Revelation,  summing  them 
up  in  the  following  particulars  :  the  pre-announcement 
of  great  events,  the  entire  concord  existing  among  the 
several  parts  of  Scripture,  the  tone  of  authority  used  by 
the  writers,  the  diligence  of  those  who  received  the 
Divine  Unction,  the  agreeableness  of  the  Gospel  with 
reason,  its  freedom  from  all  unreasonable  errors,  the 
celebrity  of  its  miracles,  and  the  stability  of  the  Church. 
On  each  of  these  points  he  enlarges  in  a  very  succinct 
manner. 

In  treating  of  the  Existence  of  God,  he  sought  to 
show  the  unsatisfactory  nature  of  the  presumed  argu- 
ments used  by  Anselm  and  Aquinas,  urging  that  the 
doctrine  of  the  Divine  Existence  Vv'as  incapable  of  being 
proved,  and  that  the  Nature  of  God  could  not  be 
comprehended.  He  urged  that  the  manifestations 
which  God  made  of  Himself  to  the  soul  of  mati  could 
alone  satisfy  the  mind  concerning  His  Existence.  He 
insisted  that  the  fact  of  His  Existence  is  not  proved 
from  the  mere  idea  which  the  mind  entertains  of  Him, 
and  that  the  argument,  a  priori,  was  equally  invalid. 
He  indeed  held  that  there  must  be  an  ultimate  cause  of 
all  things,  which  is  also  the  ultimate  end  of  all  things, 
and  that  this  is  God ;  but  he  denied  that  this  conclusion 
can  be  reached  by  any  process  of  pure  logic.  He  said 
that  as  man  is  created  in  the  image  of  God,  he  may,  by 
self-contemplation,  enter  on  a  course  of  life,  the  way 
of  excellence,  which  will  lead  him  to  a  knowledge  of 


THE  SUBTLE  DOCTOR.  255 

God.  He  differed  from  Aquinas  in  bis  view  that  God 
could  only  be  known  through  such  manifestations  as  He 
might  make  known  to  man,  and  held  that  such  know- 
ledge as  he  had  of  the  Divine  Being  was  positive  and 
direct.  This  subject  was  extensively  debated  in  the 
rival  Schools  of  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries, 
and  at  length  subsided  into  a  generally  admitted  theory 
that  man  has  a  direct  apprehension  of  the  Divine 
Nature,  and  not  a  mere  knowledge  of  His  Accidents  or 
Habit,  but  that  it  is  not  an  adequate  or  thorough 
knowledge  of  Him. 

In  writing  concerning  the  Attributes  of  God,  Duns 
was  led  to  express  opinions  which  brought  him  into 
decided  difference  with  the  leading  Schoolmen.  They 
had  taugiit  in  reference  to  the  Will  of  God  that  He  is 
free  in  regard  to  all  which  is  not  an  essential  attribul? 
of  His  Nature,  as  in  those  things  which  are  finite, 
relative,  and  accidental ;  but  that  respecting  His  Essen- 
tial Being  and  Perfections,  all  things  are  necessitated. 
Duns  strongly  controverted  this  position  ;  he  affirmed 
the  entire  freedom  of  the  Divine  Will  in  all  things  ;  he 
said  that  the  whole  method  of  man's  Salvation,  both  as 
regards  the  Divine  provision  for  it  and  the  condition  of 
its  bestowment,  was  regulated  by  the  Will  of  God. 
God  might  not  have  exercised  His  creating  power  ; 
He  might  in  effecting  an  atonement  for  sin  have 
assumed  some  other  nature  thaYi  that  of  man's  ;  the 
sufferings  of  Christ  were  not  a  necessity,  buc  were 
accepted  by  God  as  an  equivalent  which  could  be 
placed  to  the  believer's  credit,  and  thus  free  him  from 
the  results  of  his  disobedience.  He  ventured  even 
further  than  this ;  and  whereas  Aquinas,  with  some 
others  of  the  School,  taught  that  God  ordains  what  is 
right  bcf  ause  it    is    right,    Duns    insisted    that    right 


2sr.  GREA  T  SCHOOLMEN  OE  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

became  such  when  and  because  God  commands  it. 
He  thus  gives  the  Divine  Will  pre-eminent  authority- 
over  all  other  Attributes  and  Perfections  in  the 
Divine  Nature.'  Ritter  considers  that  in  the  outcome 
of  their  arguments  Aquinas  and  Scotus  are  not  widely 
different,  as  each  of  them  introduces  so  many  alleviating 
considerations  which  tone  the  apparent  divergencies 
of  their  views  into  moderate  harmony.  He  says  : 
*'  One  defines  away  necessity  until  it  ceases  to  be 
necessity  ;  the  other  fetters  free  will  till  it  ceases  to  be 
free."' 

The  opinions  professed  by  Duns  upon  the  Will  of 
God  necessarily  moulded  his  opinions  on  the  nature  of 
man.  He  held  that  man  in  his  various  powers  and  in 
the  constitution  of  his  being  was  the  image  of  God  ; 
therefore  the  commanding  position  he  assigned  to  the 
Will  in  the  Divine  he  gave  to  it  also  in  human  nature. 
He  adopted  as  the  foundation  of  his  psychology  the 
axiom,  "  the  will  is  superior  to  the  intellect."  This 
doctrine  naturally  influenced  his  views  of  the  method 
of  man's  salvation,  which  laid  him  open  to  the  charge 
of  a  tendency  towards  Pelagianism.  Taking  portions 
of  his  theological  teaching  and  considering  them  without 
reference  to  his  system,  this  charge  would  seem  to  be 
well  founded  ;  but  on  the  other  hand  he  so  vehemently 
and  persistently  taught  the  sufficiency  of  Divine  grace 
in  the  salvation  of  the  sinner  as  to  greatly  neutralize 
the  charge. 

Holding  that  the  Will  of  God  in  relation  to  this 
world  is  the  primary  and  fundamental  element  in  God, 
and  that  in  relation  to  mankind  He  is  absolutely- 
arbitrary,  and    that  we   are  relatively   arbitrary  owing 

'  NoteB. 

2  Ritter.  quoted  by  Milman,  ix.,  145. 


THE  SUBTLE  DOCTOR.  257 

allegiance  to  Him  as  Lord,  it  was  not  possible  but  that 
his  views  on  the  Incarnation  of  the  Word,  and  the 
Atonement  offered  by  the  Lord  Jesus,  would  be 
seriously  affected.  Believing,  as  above  stated,  that  the 
Divine  Will  is  far  above  every  kind  oi  necessity,  he 
questioned  whether  either  the  Incarnation  or  Atone- 
ment were  necessary  at  all,  and  urged  that  the  worl: 
of  Redemption  might  have  been  accomplished  by  an 
angel  or  a  man,  if  it  had  pleased  the  Divine  Will  to 
have  aQcepted  such  an  offering  as  sufficient.  In  deal- 
ing with  the  subject  of  the  Incarnation,  he  attributed 
more  real  significance  to  it  than  did  Aquinas  ;  he  said 
the  Humanity  of  Christ  was  a  full  personality,  in  that 
it  possessed  entire  independence  of  personalities  ex- 
ternal to  itself,  and  by  many  subtilties  he  laboured  to 
show  how  an  union  between  the  Divine  and  human 
natures  was  possible.  He  sought  to  demonstrate  that 
the  human  nature  of  Christ  would  have  attained  per- 
sonality without  union  with  th^  Word  ;  that  it  would 
by  its  sheer  power  of  will  have  cast  its  entire  depen- 
dence on  Qod,  and  that  this  it  was  which  really 
enabled  the  human  nature  to  become  so  really  united 
with  the  Word.  Despite  the  false  reasonings  and 
assumptions  of  this  theory,'  he  evidently  believed  that 
Christ  had  a  real  human  personality,  not  removed 
beyond  the  reach  of  human  expericTice,  as  was  attri- 
buted to  Him  by  Aquinas.  On  the  contrary.  Duns 
said  that  His  humanity  underwent  a  process  of  growth 
both  as  regards  knowledge  and  will,  and  that  He 
endured  suffering  V>nth  of  body  and  mind.  This  sus- 
ceptibility to  suffering  he  explained  by^  saying  that  the 
higher  glory  of  Christ  did  not  penetrate  the  lower 
powers  so  as  to  prevent  them  having  the  experience 
^  Dorner,  "Person  of  Christ,"  div.  ii.,  vol.  i.,  345. 

1; 


258  GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES, 

natural  to  humanity.  Still,  his  theory  is  vitiated,  and 
the  Incarnation  deprived  of  much  of  its  virtue  and 
attraction  by  the  original  position  assumed  by  hirti, 
that  it  is  not  the  expression  of  the  Love  or  Wisdom 
or  Justice  of  Christ,  but  simply  of  His  absolute, 
arbitrary,  indeterminate  Will,  which  as  the  expression 
of  His  Power  is  without  heart  or  sympathy.  He 
argued  further  that  the  Incarnation  would  have  taken 
place  even  if  man  had  not  fallen,  because  it  was  willed 
not  at  the  instance  of  another,  but  from  the  beginning 
and  as  a  Divine  end  and  aim.  Christ  was  an  end  in 
Himself  and  not  for  humanity.  He  was  the  expression 
of  humanity  as  God  willed  it,  and  as  God  wills  the 
end  before  He  wills  the  means  so  He  willed  the  Incar- 
nation of  the  Word  as  expressing  His  highest  purpose 
in  regard  to  man  even  before  His  foreknowledge  of 
sin.  It  will  be  seen  how  this  still  further  interferes 
with  the  close  sympathy  of  Christ  with  humanity,  as 
His  assumption  of  human  nature  is  not  an  interference 
by  God  to  rescue  a  perishing  world,  but  only  an 
outward  expression  of  His  Will  in  regard  to  the  final 
glorification  of  His  grace.  Logically,  Duns'  theory 
must  have  led  him  to  the  conclusion  that  the  absolute 
freedom  of  God  enabled  Him  at  any  time  to  take  back 
the  Creation  and  the  God-man,  and  also  that  such  an 
arbitrary  exercise  of  Will  would  be  an  expression  of 
Infinite  Goodness,  since  what  He  wills  is  the  measure 
and  criterion  of  Goodness.  But  yet  again  he  seeks  to 
guard  himself  against  this  legitimate  conclusion  by 
postulating  that  as  God  has  become  Incarnate  such  an 
alteration  has  become  impossible.  But  how  impossi- 
ble }  If  the  foundation  idea  in  God  be  that  of  abso- 
lute freedom  and  power,  why  should  the  Incarnation 
limit    the    exercise    of    that     freedom  1       Duns  .thus 


THE  SUBTLE  DOCTOR.  239 

stipulates  for  the  Infinite  Liberty  of  God,  and  then 
binds  Him  in  the  rigid  and  inevitable  bonds  of  facts, 
as  firmly  as  the  most  extreme  fatalist  could  have  done. 
It  is  impossible  to  follow  him  through  all  his  mazes 
and  contradictions  on  this  important  subject  ;  he  was 
himself  aware  of  some  of  his  anomalous  positions,  and 
refused  to  follow  where  his  logic  would  have  inevitably 
led  him. 

His  treatment  of  the  subject  of  the  Atonement  was 
conditioned  by  his  views  of  the  Incarnation.  He  con- 
troverted the  principal  and  favourite  argument  of 
Anselm  as  to  the  superabounding  merit  of  the  death 
of  Jesus  as  a  sacrifice  for  sin,  and  its  being  required 
as  a  satisfaction  to  Divine  Justice.  He  said  that  the 
death  of  Jesus  had  not  infinite  merit,  that  it  was  only 
the  human  nature  that  suffered,  and  that  it  was  only 
accepted  as  an  atonement  for  sin  by  the  Will  of  God. 
Thus  he  gave  the  sufferings  of  Christ  a  very  inferior 
place  in  his  system  to  that  given  them  by  Aquinas,  and 
in  fact  lost  the  essential  idea  of  Atonement  altogether. 

Duns  exercised  an  important  influence  in  the  history 
of  Church  dogma,  when  he  advocated,  with  great  learn- 
ing and  eloquence,  the  Immaculate  Conception  of  the 
Virgin  Mary.  A  growing  tendency  in  favour  of  this 
doctrine  had  been  evident  for  ome  time,  but  many  of 
the  leading  theologians  of  the  Church  had  refused  to 
receive  it.  Bernard  of  Clarvaux  had  written  energeti- 
cally against  it,  stating  that  whilst  Mary  might  have 
been  sanctified  in  the  womb,  that  she  was  not  therefore 
free  from  original  sin,  and  even  intimated  that  the 
view  he  opposed,  whilst  not  honouring  Marj',  was  di.^- 
honouring  to  her  wondrous  Son.'  In  this  view  Bernard 
was  followed  by  Albertus,  Bonaventura,  Ansehn,  Peter 
'  S.  Bernardi,  "Opera.  Ep.  174,  ad  Canon,"  p.  1537. 


2 bo  GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

Lombard,  Alexander   Hales,  and  Aquinas,  who   were 
followed   by  the  whole  line  of  Dominican  monks  ;  but 
Duns,  with  marvellous  ingenuity  and  power,  sought  ,to 
prove  that  greater  honour  was   done  to  Jesus  by  his 
view,  masmuch  as  He  had  Himself  conferred  this  dls- 
tmction  oh   the  Virgin   by   a  prevenient  virtue   resting 
upon   her  even  in   the  womb.     He   said  that   as   God 
blots  out  original  sin  every  day  by  baptism,  He  can  do 
it  as  well  in  the  moment  of  conception.      He  first  pro- 
mulgated  his  views  with   caution,  and  urged  that-  the 
Immaculate  Conception  of  the  Virgin  was  possible  and 
probable  ;  and  then,  waxing  bolder,  he  proclaimed  it  in 
ihc  manner  described  in  previous  pages,  with  the  effect 
of  leading  the  University  of  Paris  to  identify  its  teaching 
with  hi5  views  on   this  subject.      Sq,  at  least  Wadding, 
his  biographer,  declares.     The  account  is  treated   dubi- 
ously   by    some    Church    historians,    althoiigh    Perrone 
admits  that  he  demolished  the  arguments  of  his  oppo- 
nents in  a  manner   that  v/as  truly  astonishing.      From 
his   day  the    doctrine   grew,  though  not  without  num- 
berless    and     bitter    contests,    into    increasinc;    fevour 
with   the   Papal  Court,   until,  in    1854,  P^P^  ^'"^  I^- 
declared    it  to  be   an   article    of  faith    in    the  ('atholic 
Church  essential  to  salvation.      He  held  the  doctrine  of 
predestination  in  a  very  unqualified  form,  and  sought  to 
I'^foncijc   his  theory  of  free  will  with  that  of  necessity, 
by  representing  that  the  Divine  Decree  was  not  antici- 
patory as  tp  time,  but  was  immediately  related   to  the 
action  of  the  created  will      Holding  the  view  that  only 
will    could    affect   will,   he    combated    'he    opinion    of 
Aquina.s,  that  the  understanding  guided  or  affected  the 
will,  and   was  led  to  adopt   a  ver)^   rigid  theory   con- 
cerning  the    operation   of  Divine   grace. 

He   was  the  most   strenuous    <^upporter   of  Church 


THE  SUBTLE  DOCTOR.  261 

authority  amongst  the  Schoolmen,  and  sought  to  subject 
all  the  knowledges  to  its  dictum,  thus  exerting  an 
induence  diametrically  opposite  to  the  great  Schoolmen 
from  Anselm  down  to  his  day. 

In  psychology  Duns  took  an  important  place,  intro- 
ducing and  discussing  some  questions  which  are  heard 
of  in  the  heated  discussions  of  the  nineteenth  century 
He  deals  at  great  length  with  the  question  whether  the 
Intellect  apprehends  external  things  directly  as  do  the 
Senses,  and  if  so,  whether  they  are  the  same  appre- 
hensions as  those  oi  the  Senses.  He  argues  that  the 
Intellect  forms  an  image  of  the  external  object  which 
is  not  it,  but  simply  an  abstraction  of  it,  whereas  the 
Senses  are  directly  cognisant  of  it.  The  Senses  expe- 
rience the  external,  the  Intellect  knozi'S  it.  But  he  says 
the  latter  is  higher  than  the  former,  and  really  includes 
it ;  it  does  not  simply  substitute  an  abstraction  of  its 
own  creation  of  what  the  eye  can  see.  but  it  enters 
more  thoroughly  into  the  essential  nature  of  it  than  the 
Sense  can  do.  The  living  apprehension  is  in  ihe  intel- 
lect but  throngJi  the  Senses  ;  it  does  not  depend,  how- 
ever, on  the  appearance  the  external  object  may 
present  to  the  Senses,  but  penetrates  to  the  reality.  He 
further  argues  that  Species  are  given  to  the  Intellect. 
It  is  only  thus  that  it  is  delivered  from  mere  phan- 
tasms, that  it  has  the  power  of  turning  to  pure  and 
real  Species  and  escaping  from  the  erroneous  propor- 
tions in  things  to  which  it  would  be  subject  if  it  were 
the  prey  of  any  phantasms  wh'ch  the  Sense  presented 
to  it.  The  memor}'  retains  the  Species  before  the 
Intellect  when  the  object  is  absent,  and  he  concluues 
that  the  mind  is  acquainted  with  itself  and  its  opera- 
tions, not  by  a  Species  impre>^sed  on  it,  as  in  external 
things,  but  a   Species   expressed   from  it.      It    has  a:i 


262  GREAT  SCHOOLMEN'  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

intuitive  knowledge    of  itself.      Stripped  of  the  subtle 
and  bewildering  reasonings  of  Duns,  his  system  seenas 
to  identify  him  with  the  Realists,  although,  as  will  be 
seen  afterwards,  his  system  contained   much  that  aided 
in  arousing  the  slumbering  Nominalism  which  asserted 
itself  so  powerfully  in  the  succeeding  Scholastic  ages. 
Literally  he  might  be  classed  with  those  philosophers 
described  by  Sir  W.  Hamilton  as  Cosmothetic  Idealists, 
and  be  placed  in  the  category  of  those  who  view  in  the 
immediate  object  of  perception  a  representative  entity 
present  to  the  mind,  but  not  a  mere  mental  modification, 
and  thus  \yas  a   forerunner  of  Malebranche,  Berkeley, 
and  others,  whose  systems   logically  led   to   Idealism. 
In  one  important  respect  also  Duns  anticipated  Locke, 
viz.,  in  his  fundamental  principle  that  all  knowledge  is 
derived  through  the  double  medium  of  sense  and  reflec- 
tion, and  even  enounced  it  in  a  manner  far  more  correct 
than    Locke  himself.'      In   the   discussion   also   of  the 
question  whether  the  mind  can  be  conscious  of  more 
than  a  single  object  at  the  same  time.  Duns  anticipated 
the  views  of  nearly  all  the  leading  modern  philosophers 
by  answering  in  the  affirmative,  in  opposition  to  Aquinas 
and  all  the  leading  Schoolmen. 

Notwithstanding  the  probable  drawbacks  of  his 
system.  Duns  did  good  service  to  the  cause  of  Christian' 
truth  by  his  powerful  criticisms  of  the  rigidness  of 
opposing  systems,  and  also  gave  clearer  expression  of 
the  realness  of  Christ's  human  nature  and  of  the 
ethical  character  of  the  Atonement  than  had  yet  been 
afforded. 

"  Between  his  Scholasticism  and  the  Romanic  Scholasticism 
of  Thomas  Aquinas,  there  is  indeed  this  distinction  :  that  in 
the  former  clearer  traces  are  discernible  of  the  ethical  tenden- 

1  Hamilton,  "  Met.,"  i.,  235. 


THE  SUBTLE  DOCTOR.  263 

cies  which  distinguish  the  Germanic  mind.  Scotus  presents  to 
lis  the  picture  of  a  vigorous  wrestling  mind  in  which  a  new 
principle  travails  into  birth,  still  struggling  with  the  chains 
imposed  upon  it  by  the  antagonistic  j)rinciple  which  had  held 
sway.  Whereas  previously  the  theoretical  and  physical  neces- 
sity and  nature  (essence)  had  held  almost  undisputed  sway,  he 
now  puts  forth  the  claims  of  free  will,  though  his  mode  of 
doing  so  is  marked  by  abruptness  and  exclusiveness.''  ^ 

With  this  estimate  of  Duns  all  competent  authorities 
agree.  Cousin  says  of  him  :  "  He  possessed  a  mind  of 
a  fine  and  durable  temper,  and  uncommon  solidity." 
"  Less  a  moralist  than  Thomas  Aquinas,  he  was  a 
greater  dialectician  ;"^  whilst  another  writer,  not  given 
to  unduly  praise  writers  of  his  School,  declares  of  him  : 
"  His  subtilty  in  general  was  not  used  to  confuse 
principles  and  to  make  the  worst  appear  the  better 
reason,  but  to  bring  out  distinctions  which  are  of  real 
value,  and  which  the  metaphysicians  of  the  latest 
periods   cannot    afford   to   overlook,"^ 

He  was  rightly  named  by  the  crowds  that  flocked 
round  him  in  Paris  and  Cologne  the  Subtle  Doctor  ; 
he  made  distinctions  and  definitions  until  he  seemed  to 
bewilder  himself,  but  his  erudition,  his  patience,  his 
industry,  and  his  dialectic  skill,  have  not  had  a  compeer 
altogether  in  European  literature.  The  services  he 
rendered  to  the  cause  of  psychology  and  theology  have 
never  been  fairly  acknowledged  ;  by  giving  extreme 
and  undue  prominence  to  one  principle,  which  had 
been  almost  entirely  overlooked  by  his  predecessors,  he 
banished  others  equally  as  important  into  the  shade, 
and  thus  vitiated  his  whole  system  as  a  system,  but  he 
undoubtedly  dre\V  attention  to  some  points  which  have 

'  Dorner,  Div.  II.,  vol.  i.,  346. 
''Cousin,  "Mod.  Phil.,"  vii.,  21. 
*  Maurice,  *'  Mor.  and  Met.  Phil.,"  i.,  646. 


264        GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

never  since  lost  their  hold  in  philosophy  or  dogma,  and 
which  have  tended  to  give  increased  richness  and  ful- 
ness to  each  of  them.  Had  his  genius  been  less  critical 
and  more  philosophic,  less  merely  microscopic  and  more 
comprehensive,  he  might  have  exercised  an  influence  in 
no  degree  less  mighty  than  his  great   Dominican  rival. 


Note  A. 

It  was  stated  in  the  sketch  of  Duns'  life  th.u  his  writin^^s  were 
unreHeved  by  any  attempt  at  illustration.     One  exception  must  be 
made  to  that  remark.     He  seeks  to  explain  his  position  in  relation 
to  form  and  matter  by  the  following  figure: — "  It  appears  that  the 
world  is  a  very  beautiful  tree,  whereof  the  root  and  seed  store  is  the 
primary  matter  ;  the  moving  leaves  are  accidents  and  contingen- 
cies ;  the  boughs  and  branches  are  all  things  which  are  liable. to 
decay  ;  the  flower  is  the  rational  nature  ;  the  fruit  is  that  same  in 
its  perfection,  the  angelical  nature.'    That  which  alone  forms  this 
seed  and  directs  its  unfolding  from  the  beginning  is  the  word  of 
God,   either   by   its    immediate  operation,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
Heavens,  the  Angels,  and  the  rational  soul,  or  mediately  through 
such  agents  as  work  in  the  production  of  whatever  is  subject  to 
birth  and  to  death.     True  it  is,  that  in  the  first  root  of  this  primary 
matter  nothing  is  distinct.     Then  at  once  the  root  is  divided  into 
two  branches,   the  corporeal  and    the    spiritual.     The    spiritual 
branch  is  distinguished  into  three  hierarchies  ;  each  of  these  into 
three  orders,  each  order  into  thousand^  (^f  thousands   of  Angels. 
A  portion  of  these  branches,  being  shaken  by  a  blast  of  pride,  was 
dried  up  at  the  beginning  of  the  world.     The  corporeal  creation 
Contains  two  branches,  the  cormptilile  and  the  incorruptible,  each 
of  which  has  manifold  offshoots.     Thus  the  unity  of  the  imi verse 
in  its  va.nous  elements  is  evolved  at  last'out  of  this  indeterminate 
matter." — Maurice,  "  Moi.  and  Met.  Phil.j"  i.,  651. 

Note  B. 

"  His  attempt  to  reconcile  foreknowledge  with  contingency  is  a 
remarkable  example  of  the  power  of  human  subtlety  to  keep  up  the 
appearance  of  a  struggle,  where  it  is  impossible  to  make  one  real 
effort  (Opera  Lugdun,  1639,  vol.  v.,  p.   1320-27).    But  the  most 


THE  SUBTLE  DOCTOR.  265 

dangerous  of  all  the  deviations  of  hcotus  from  the  system  of 
Aquinas  is,  that  he  opeiud  the  way  to  the  opinion  iliat  the  dis- 
tinction of  right  and  wrong  di-ponds  on  the  mere  wiIK)t  iIk.-  IJernal 
Mind.  The  absohite  power  of  the  Deity,  accordmg  to  him,  extends 
to  all  but  contradictions.  His  regular  power,  oniinatn,  is  exercised 
conformably  to  an  order  established  by  Himself  .  si  jdacet  volun- 
tati,  sub  qua  libera  est,  recta  est  hx." — Sir  J.  Mackintosh, 
Wo"-'  s,  i.,  279. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 
THE   INVINCIBLE   DOCTOR^WILLIAM   OF   OCKAM. 


"  He  knew  what's  what,  and  that's  as  high 
As  metaphysic  wit  can  fly  ; 
In  school  divinity  as  able, 
As  he  that's  hight  irrefragable — 
A  second  Thomas,  or  at  once, 
To  name  them  all,  another  Dunse  ; 
Profound  in  all  the  Nominal, 
And  Real  ways  beyond  them  all  ; 
For  he  a  rope  of  sand  could  twist 
As  tough  as  learned  Sorbonist." 

S.  Butler. 


XVI. 

THE    INVINCIBLE    DOCTOR— WILLIAM  OF  OCKAAf. 

Nothing  is  known  of  the  parentage  or  early  life  of 
the  ;,reat  Schoolman  now  to  be  considered,  William  of 
Ockam.  He  was  probably  born  about  the  year  1280, 
in  the  village  of  Ockam,  in  Surrey,  from  which  he  took 
his  name.  Whatever  may  have  been  the  character  of 
his  early  training,  he  seems  to  have  had  an  unusually 
plastic  mind,  and  as  the  times  were  strangely  stirring, 
all  the  peculiarly  English  qualities  of  his  nature  were 
called  into  exercise.  He  is  first  mentioned  in  history 
as  a  student  at  Oxford,  and  then  as  attending  the 
lectures  of  Duns  Scotus  at  Paris.  Here  he  after- 
wards l?ecame  a  master,  and  lectured  on  many  sub- 
jects in  theology  and  philosophy.  He  was  a  man  of 
unusually  broad  sympathies,  and  was  concerned  about 
many  interests ;  he  was  a  warm  politician  ;  he  was 
profoundly  versed  in  theology ;  he  was  a  born  logi- 
cian, and  whatever  subject  he  touched  he  felt  him- 
self in  warm  acco.d  with  it,  and  wrote  on  it  with  great 
force  and  clearness.  The  times  were  most  exciting, 
and  Ockam  suffered  himself  to  be  carried  into  their 
rapid  swim.  In  1305  the  temporal  power  of  the 
Papacy  sustained  an  enormous  check  by  the  Vo\)c 
becoming  subject  to  the  influence  of  PVancc,  followed 


270         GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGtS. 

by  the  removal  of  the  Papal  Court  from  Rome  to 
Avignon,  a  neighbourhood  as  lovely  as  a  Paradise,  but- 
far  removed  from  the  heart  of  public  affairs.  Not  only 
so,  the  outward  magnificence  manifested  by  the  succes- 
sors of  St.  Peter,  the  humble  fisherman  of  Galilee,  was 
so  infinitely  lavish,  that  every  means  had  to  be  used  to 
extort  money  from  the  faithful  in  all  parts  of  the 
Church.  In  1316  Pope  John  XXII.  assumed  the 
Papal  throne  after  the  Church  had  been  in  the  anoma- 
lous position  of  being  without  a  Head'  for  two  years 
and  four  months  in  consequence  of  the  violent  quarrels 
of  the  French  and  Italian  Cardinals.  Clement  V.  had 
been  venal  and  rapacious  to  an  extraordinary  degree, 
and  his  subjects  were  exasperated  by  his  extortions, 
but  he  was  surpassed  by  his  successor  John  to  such  an 
extent  that  Italian  historians  testify  that  in  his  lust  for 
money  he  ground  the  people  severely,  he  practised 
simony  so  unblushingly  that  he  sold  Church  benefices 
openly  in  the  market.'  This  shameful  truckster  in 
ecclesiastical  merchandise  sought  to  console  himself 
fcr  his  subordination  to  France  by  a  fierce  absolutism 
in  relation  to  Germany.  When  a  contest  arose  between 
the  Archduke  Frederick  of  Austria  and  Louis  the  Duke 
of  Bavaria,  for  the  crown  of  Emperor,  he  exerted  all 
his  energy  to  secure  the  decision  of  the  contest  for 
himself.  After  seven  years  of  civil  war,  which  drained 
the  contending  States  of  their  blood  and  treasure, 
victory  declared  itself  with  the  Duke  of  Bavaria,  and 
he  assumed  the  title  of  Emperor  Louis  IV.  The  Pope 
was  frantic  with  rage  that  events  had  decided  them- 
selves without  his  manipulation  or  arbitration,  and  he 

'  Questi  fu  homo  molto  cupido  di  mor^eta  e  simoniaco  che  aqui 
beneficio  per  moneta  in  sua  corte  si  vendea,  etc. — Villani,  "  Hist. 
Fiorent,"  lib.  ix,  59.     Quoted  Hardwick,  "  Middle  Ages,"  345. 


THE  INVINCIBLE  DOCTOR. 


indulged  an  unrelenting  animosity  against  Louis,  which 
led  the  new  Emperor  to  form  an  alh'ance  with  the 
opponents  of  the  temporal  power  of  the  Papacy,  then 
existing  in  great  force  in  many  countries,  but  chiefly 
consisting  of  the  great  Ghibelline  party,  against 
whom  the  Guelphs  were  mdulging  their  merciless 
vendetta. 

John  launched  his  excommunication  against  tho 
Emperor,  and  laid  under  stern  interdict  those  portions 
of  Germany  which  acknowledged  his  supremacy,  Louis 
demanded  that  a  General  Council  should  be  summoned 
where  the  matters  in  dispute  between  him  and  the  Pope 
could  be  discussed  and  settled.  The  clangour  and 
clash  of  controversy  which  raged  at  this  time  exceeds 
description  ;  the  interdict  was  observed  in  some  places 
and  not  in  others,  and  in  some  districts  where  the  jrarti- 
sarts  of  the  Pope  attempted  to  observe  it  the  adherents 
of  Louis  rose  up  and  expelled  the  recusants.  Amidst 
the  din  and  dust  of  the  prevailing  disorder  there  were 
some  brave  and  noble  voices  raised  in  behalf  of  Louis, 
and  arguing  against  the  assumptions  of  the  Pope  in 
the  warmest  manner.  Prominent  amongst  these  snq.xq. 
Marsilius  qf  Padua,  physician  and  religious  teacher  of 
Louis,  who  wrote  the  Defensoi'  Pads ;  and  Michael 
Ceseno,  a  Franciscan  monk',  who  affirmed  the  princi- 
ple of  absolute  poverty  in  the  boldest  terms.  The 
Defensor  Pacis  aimed  to  show  that  as  Churcli  and 
State  had  each  its  own  natural  province,  thci'  limits 
should  be  fixed  and  thus  peace  definitely  settled 
between  them.  The  popularity  and  influence  of  this 
book  were  amazing,  and  it  aided  much  in  preparing  the 
way  for  the  prevalence  of  views  which  not  only  revolted 
from  the  excesses  of  the  Papacy,  but  undermined  its 
whole  foundation. 


272         GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

No  one  entered  more  enthusiastically  into  the  great 
conflicts  of  the  day  than  William  of  Ockam.  Nothing 
can  be  said  as  to  the  growth  of  his  mind  in  favour  of 
the  view  that  the  Church*  should  only  be  concerned 
with  the  c6ntrol  of  things  spiritual.  But  he  was 
passionately  aroused  in  opposition  to  the  pride  and 
sordidness  of  the  dignitaries  of  the  Church;  heb-il  been 
appointed  head  of  the  Franciscan  Order  in  England, 
and  strongly  condemned  the  growing  love  of  wealth  in 
the  Mendicant  Orders  ;  he  even  disapproved  of  the 
enormous  sums  of  money  which  were  being  expended 
over  the  church  building  to  memorialise  the  Founder' 
of  his  Order,  St.  Francis  of  Assisi.  Nor  was  this  all. 
He  took  up  and  urged  with  the  utmost  boldness  the 
rights  of  emperors  and  kings  as  against  the  claims  of 
the  Pope  to  temporal  dominion.  He  issued  a  work 
called,  "  The  Defence  of  Poverty,"  which  was  the  most 
clear,  logical,  and  powerful  of  all  the  productions  of  the 
day  on  the  Papal  disputes,  and  which  astonished  the 
whole  of  Christendom  by  the  sheer  audacity  with  which 
it  opposed  the  pretensions  of  John.  The  Pope  com- 
manded two  Bishops  to  examine  the  book  and  pass 
condemnation  upon  it,  and  Ockam,  with  two  friends 
like-minded  with  himself,  was  seized  and  placed  in 
confinement  in  Avignon.  They  might  surely  anticipate 
speedy  death  if  they  remained  Ipng  in  the  hands  ,of 
enemies  so  bitter  and  unscrupulous.  They  vyatched 
for  an  opportunity,  and  then  escaped  to  Aiques  Montes, 
taking  ship  to  Germany  and  seeking  refuge  in  the 
Court  of  Louis.  Ockam  addressed  the  Emperor 
in  the  well-knowft  words,  "  Thou  defend  me  by  the 
sword  and  I  will  defend  thee  by  the  pen."^  In  this 
refuge  he  felt  he  could  safely  treat  with  contempt  the 
>  "  Tu  me  defendas  gladio,  ego  te  defendaai  calaino." 


THE  INVINCIBLE  DOCTOR.  273 

threats  and  fulminations  of  the  Pope,  and  he  issued  two 
works  on  the  current  controversies,  one  of  them,  it  is 
said,   being   composed   in   ninety  days,  both   of  which 
showed   such    independence  of  mind,  such    subtilty  of 
logic,  and   such    powerful   reasoning,  as   to    produce    a 
profound  impression  on  the  public  mind.      They  showed 
as   burning  a   hatred    to   the    Papacy    as    a    temporal 
dominion  as  was  ever  manifested  by  Martin   Luther  ; 
they  are  held  in  high  esteem,  even  to  this  day,  and  are 
carefully  treasured   in   the   choicest    libraries.      Selden, 
whose  learning  and  judicial  calmness  peculiarly  fitted 
him  to  give  an  opinion,  testifies — and  as  coming  from 
a  Protestant   such  a  testimony  should  carry  consider- 
able   weight — that    his    works    were     "  the  .  best    that 
had  been  written  in  former  ages  on  the  Ecclesiastical 
Power."      He   lived    in   the   protection    and  favour  of 
Louis  for  some   years,  condemned    by  the   Pope,  dis- 
owned  by  Franciscans  ;  almost  flooded  with  sentences 
of    heresy,  deprivation,   and    imprisonment,   for   which 
he  recked   nothing,  but  pursued  his  course,  stedfastly 
and   earnestly  devoting  himself  to  the  composition  of 
works  which  were  to  make  his  name  more  famous  as 
a  dialectician  than  it  was  as  an  ecclesiastical  reformer. 
He   accompanied    the    Emperor   in   his   descent    upon 
Italy,   with    its   brilliant   success,    followed   by  its   dis- 
couragements   and    disastrous    failure ;    then    returned 
with  him  to  his  Court  at  Munich,  where  he  ended  his 
days  in   1347.     He  was  called  by  his  followers   "the 
Invincible  Doctor "    on    account   of   the    fearless    tone 
he   preserved    both   in    his   political    and    philosophical 
writings  ;   and  also  "  the  Venerable  Founder,"  because 
he    re-established    Nominalism    on    a    new  and    more 
enduring  basis.      He   became    the  real    leader    of  the 
reforming  tendencies  of  the  times,  and  gave  a  decided 

18 


274        GREAT  SCHOOT.M EN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

impulse  to  the  philosophical  thought  of  Europe  on  the 
sensational  side. 

William  had  studied  under  Duns  at  Paris,  and  was 
never  able  to  divest  himself  of  the  influences  such  a 
powerful  mind  could  not  fail  to  exert  on  one  equally 
powerful,  but  more  responsive.  Especially  he  was 
unfortunate  in  imbibing  the  obnoxious  and  vitiating 
principle  which  had  corrupted  the  teaching  of  his 
master  at  the  very  root,  and  which  also  interfered 
materially  with  the  teachings  of  the  pupil,  viz.,  that 
the  distinctions  of  right  and  wrong  depend  not  on  the 
nature  of  God,  but  on  His  arbitrary  will.  He  even 
went  beyond  Duns,  and  made  the  startling  assertion 
that  "  moral  evil  was  only  evil  because  it  was  pro- 
hibited," and  again  that  "if  God  had  commanded  His 
creatures  to  hate  Himself,  hatred  of  God  would  have 
been  praiseworthy." ' 

The  Realists  amongst  the  Schoolmen  had  taught, 
as  has  been  shown,  that  there  were  eternal  and  immut- 
able Ideas  of  right  and  wrong  in  the  Divine  Mind,  and 
on  this  basis  they  built  an  ethical  system  which  has 
been  accepted  as  irrefragable  by  the  great  body  of 
Moral  Philosophers  throughout  Christendom  ;  but  the 
ground  on  which  Duns  and  Ockam  "based  morality 
removes  the  foundations  of  moral  government  entirely. 
Cudworth  affirms  their  opinions  to  be  practically 
equivalent  to  Atheism.  The  verdict  of  the  sober  and 
learned  Sir  J.  Mackintosh  is  : — ; 

"  As  all  devotional  feelings  have  moral  qualities  for  their 
object,  as  no  being  can  inspire  love  or  reverence  other- 
wise than  by  those  qualities  which  are  naturally  amicable  or 
venerable,  this  doctrine  would,  If  men  were  consistent,  extin- 
guish piety,  or,  in  other  words,  annihilate  religion," ^ 

^  Mackintosh,  Works,  i.,  280.  ^  Jbid^  i.,  41. 


THE  INVINCIBLE  DOCTOR.  275 

In  dealing  with  the  question  which  really  lay  at  the 
root  of  all  the  controversies  of  the  Schoolmen,  viz., 
Univcrsals,  Ockam  boldly  and  with  great  ingenuity 
argued  that  they  were  simply  and  only  post  rem.  He 
rejected  Realism  utterly  by  the  application  of  the 
principle  which  has  since  become  a  familiar  adage  in 
the  study  of  philosophy,  "  Entities  are  not  to  be 
multiplied  except  by  necessity." '  He  accordingly 
denied  the  hypostatic  existence  of  abstractions.  He 
said  that  even  supposing  that  our  knowledge  rests  on 
Universal  conceptions,  the  Universal  does  not  neces- 
sarily exist.  To  attribute  real  existence  to  the 
Universal  leads  on  every  hand  to  inextricable  difficulty. 
He  therefore  strongly  urges  that  the  Universal  docs 
not  exist  either  in  things  or  before  things,  but  simply 
after  things,  or  as  the  product  of  the  thinking  mind  ;  it 
is  "  a  mental  conception  signifying  univocally  several 
singulars."  ^  Even  in  the  mind  this  conception  does 
not  exist  substantially.  It  is  a  mere  conception  in  the 
mind,  and  out  of  it,  it  is  a  mere  word,  a  sign ;  but 
while  a  sign  not  a  sacrament, ^  not  representing  any- 
thing invisible  or  eternal,  but'  simply  a  representation 
to  the  inward  consciousness,  and  in  the  external  expres- 
sion a  word  or  a  signi  This  was  Nominalism  in  its 
barest  and  purest  form,  and  Ockam  applied  the  same 
line  of  reasoning  to  both  God  and  man.  The  Ideas, 
which  Plato  taught  existed  independent!}'  in  the  Mind 
of  God,  and  which  the  Realists  had  believed,  not  as 
existing  independently,  but  as  types  and  patterns  of 
visible  and  created  things,  he  rejected,  and  declared  the 

1 "  Entia  non  sunt  multiplicanda  praeter  necessitatem." 
'  "  Conceptis    mentis    significans    univoce,    plura,    singularis." 
'  — Ueberweg,  "  Hist,  of  Phil.,"  i.,  dfi-z. 
'  Note  A. 


276         GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  GF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

Ideas  were  simply  the  knowledge  God  had  of  particular 
things,  as  these  are  the  only  real  existences.'  He 
thus  sought  to  frame  a  theory  of  the  Divine  Being's 
knowledge  of  things  upon  the  pattern  he  had  devised 
of  human  knowledge. 

Ockam's  Nominalism  led  him  to  the  conclusion  that 
the  so-called  Universals  were  signs  which  might  be 
applied  with  equal  propriety  to  any  one  out  of  a 
number  of  individual  objects.  In  this  he  anticipated 
the  teaching  of  Hobbes,  Berkeley,  Hume,  Hartley,  and 
Gondii  lac,  and  also  possibly  suggested  to  Home  Tooke 
his  theory  of  Words,  which  that  philologist  reduced  to 
an  extreme  littleness  of  signification,  which  Ockam 
would  have  repudiated. 

He  also  insisted  that  we  have  no  experience  of  the 
human  mind  beyond  what  can  be  known  from  the 
experience  of  its  operations,  and  thus  he  cast  out  from 
his  range  of  enquiry  all  subjects  relating  to  the  think- 
ing principle.^  The  mind,  he  said,  was  one  in  nature, 
holding  with  Duns  and  other  Schoolmen  of  a  later  day, 
in  opposition  to  Aquinas,  that  there  was  no  real 
difference  between  the  various  faculties,  or  between  the 
faculties  and  the  mind,  the  distinctions  usually  made 
of  the  mental  faculties  being  only  formal  or  logical. 
He  divided  the  cognitions  of  the  mind  into  two  kinds, 
intuitive  and  abstractive.  Man  knows  by  the  senses 
the  individuals  from  which  all  his  knowledge  comes  ; 
from  the  senses  comes  memory,  from  memory  expe- 
rience, and  through  experience  the  Universal,  which 
becomes  the  foundation  of  all  science.  He  was  either 
the  originator  of  the  celebrated  maxim,  or  enforced  it 
more  thoroughly  than  any  other  Schoolman  : — "  There 
is  nothing  in  the  understanding  that  was  not  previously 
^  Note  B.  ^  Note  C. 


THE  INVINCIBLE  DOCTOR.  277 

in  the  senses."  He  understands  by  intuitive  knowledge 
a  knowledge  by  which  we  know  whether  a  thing  is  or 
is  not.  The  judgment  then  is  passed  upon  the  cogni- 
tion by  the  intellect.  The  mind  apprehends  first, 
judges  afterwards.  Abstract  knowledge  is  that  which 
arises  from  the  discrimination  and  comparison  of  objects 
presented  through  the  senses.'  Thus,  really,  he  taught 
a  similar  doctrine  to  Locke's,  which  defined  sense  and 
reflection  as  the  sources  of  all  knowledge  ;  and  indeed 
Sir  W.  Hamilton  affirms  that  he  and  other  Scholastics 
made  this  distinction  with  more  correctness  than  the 
great  modern  philosopher. 

Ockam  has  won  for  himself  great  praise  and  renown 
for  the  bold  and  clear  manner  with  which  he  reasoned 
against  the  universally  received  doctrine  of  sensible  and 
intelligible  species,  or  appearances  of  things  which  are 
the  immediate  objects  of  the  mind  when  it  perceives 
or  thinks.  These  images  or  likenesses  were  held  to  be 
contemplated  by  the  senses  and  the  understanding,  and 
to  be  necessary  to  perception  and  mental  apprehension. 
The  views  of  Ockam  were  put  with  even  greater  clear- 
ness by  Gabriel  Biel,  his  follower,  than  by  himself.  Biel 
ha';  survived  the  lapse  of  centuries,  not  by  any  original 
power  of  thinking  which  he  possessed,  but  solely  by 
the  remarkably  clear  and  systematic  style  in  which  he 
expressed  the  principles  of  Nominalism.      He  says  : — 

"  A  species  was  the  similitude  or  image  of  a  thing  known 
naturally,  remaining  in  the  mind  after  it  ceases  to  be  the  o:<ject 
of  actual  knowledge,  or  otherwise  that  likeness  of  a  thing  wl-ich 
is  a  previous  condition  of  knowledge,  which  excites  knowledge 
of  the  understanding,  and  which  may  remain  in  the  absence  of 
the  thing  represented.'- 

»  Note  D. 

*  G.  Biel,  ii..  Sent.,  quoted  by  Tenneman,  "  Hist,  of  PhiL" 


278         GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

Ockam  affirmed  that  such  species,  moving  from  the 
object  to  the  organ  of  sense,  were  supposed  necessary 
on  the  ground  that  what  moves  must  be  in  contact 
with  what  is  moved.  This  position  he  stoutly  denies  ; 
he  quotes  the  instance  of  the  loadstone  which  attracts 
iron  to  it  without  touching  it.  He  said  nothing  was 
necessary  to  sensation  save  the  power  of  sensation  and 
the  thing  which  is  its  object.  Intermediate  beings  he 
discarded  as  being  inventions  of  the  imagination. 
They  were  mere  chimeras,  which  had  ruled  men's 
minds  since  Democritus  had  propagated  them  under 
the  name  of  etSwXa  to  the  phantasms  of  Aquinas  or 
the  impressions,  as  of  a  seal,  of  Duns. 

Thus  Ockam  raised  in  the  mediaeval  age  the  warfare 
of  Arcesilaus  against  the  Stoics,  and  anticipated  the 
battle  which  Reid  fought  on  the  principles  of  common 
sense  in  the  eighteenth  century. 

His  line  of  reasoning  led  him  necessarily  to  reject 
the  "  intelligible  species."  He  denied  not  only  the 
reality  of  what  was  understood  as  the  opinion  of 
Aristotle  concerning  the  species  which  moved  from 
outward  objects  to  the  organs  of  sense,  but  also  the 
Ideal  Theory  which  has  been  credited  to  Descartes  and 
all  thinkers  who  have  followed  him  in  teaching  the 
actual  resemblance  of  our  thoughts  to  outward  things, 
thereby  opening  the  way  for  the  extreme  idealism  of 
Berkeley  on  the  one  hand  and  for  the  scepticism  of 
Hume  on  the  other.  If  Ockam's  rejection  of  the 
doctrine  that  images  or  likenesses  of  things  are  neces- 
sary to  perception,  and  his  teaching  that  nothing  can 
be  known  of  mind  but  its  operations,  be  carefully  con- 
sidered, in  connection  with  the  growing  disregard  of 
ecclesiastical  authority  as  evidenced  by  Dante,  and  the 
tendencies  towards  the  investigation  of  nature  by  Roger 


I 


THE  INVINCIBLE  DOCTOR.  279 

Bacon,  it  will  be  found  that  already  indications  were 
manifesting  themselves  that  in  a  future  day  an  inde- 
pendent philosophy  must  arise  which  would  be  built 
by  reason  on  the  foundation  of  experience.  Mr.  Stewart 
considers'  that,  by  his  rejection  of  the  doctrine  of 
species,  Ockam  escaped  the  rock  on  which  many 
philosophers  have  struck,  and  have  been  thereby  plunged 
into  scepticism.  On  this  it  is  possible  Mr.  Stewart 
misunderstood  some  modern  writers  in  their  use  of 
such  terms  as  image,  likeness,  and  resemblance,  as  it 
does  not  appear  that  they  were  ever  applied  by  later 
writers  to  Ideas,^  but  were  used  only  as  illustrations  or 
metaphors. 

The  theological  position  of  Ockam  is  even  less 
satisfactory  than  his  philosophical.  He  was  led  to 
affirm  that  there  can  be  no  immediate  perception  of 
God  by  the  human  mind,  and  also  rejects  all  the  argu- 
ments, ontological,  a  priori^  d  posteriori^  used  by  his 
predecessors  in  order  to  prove  the  Divine  existence. 
Our  knowledge  of  God  comes  in  the  same  way  as  all 
abstractive  knowledge  of  which  the  mind  is  cognisant. 
Being  conscious  of  personality  or  individuaHty  by 
coming  into  contact  with  men,  the  mind  forms  a  concept 
of  personality  which  it  exalts  into  God,  and  which  it 
endows  with  attributes  and  perfections  the  counterparts 
of  those  which  it  finds  in  man.  He  was  led  into  the 
most  extraordinary  statements  on  this  subject.  It  was 
impossible  to  prove  by  reason  that  there  was  only  one 
God,  a  series  of  finite  causes  does  not  necessarily  imply 
a  First  Cause,  it  is  quite  conceivable  that  there  should 
be  a  number  of  worlds  with  separate  Authors,  and  other 
opinions  equally  strange  were  soberly  advanced  by  him. 
He  said  that  knowing  substances  only  through  their 
*  Dissert  Encyc.  Britt.,  ed.  viii.  "^  Note  E. 


28o         GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

attributes  we  can  have  no  knowledge  whatever  of 
substances.  This  was  true  of  the  soul  of  man  as  well 
as  of  God.  The  mind  may  observe  its  qualities  and 
frame  conclusions  concerning  the  substance  from  them, 
but  of  it  in  itself  we  can  have  no  certain  knowledge. 
The  Siibstans,  that  which  is  below  the  qualities  being 
thus  unknown  in  itself,  it  may  be  simply  a  natural  or 
material  existence,'  and  thus  the  immateriality  or  immor- 
tality of  the  soul  cannot  be  ascertained.  Therefore  the 
exercise  of  faith  is  brought  in,  to  whose  grasp  the  region 
of  real  existence  and  real  substances  must  be  relegated. 
Here  again  Ockam  and  Locke  join  hands  in  the  adoption 
of  a  principle  which  must  lead  to  a  philosophy  of  pure 
sensationalism,  for  "  if  there  be  no  substance  without 
attributes,  then  an  attribute  of  a  certain  character  being 
given,  a  substance  of  a  nature  opposed  to  the  character 
of  this  attribute  is  necessarily  excluded ;  thought  being 
given  as  a  fundamental  attribute,  a  material  substance 
is  thereby  excluded  from  thought."^ 

Ockam  professed  the  most  rigid  orthodoxy  on  the 
doctrines  of  religion,  and  yet  he  held  views  on  some 
points  which  led  inevitably  to  scepticism.  He  held  that 
no  doctrine  could  be  proved  by  reason,  but  was  simply 
a  matter  for  faith  ;  so  that  according  to  him  a  rational 
theology  could  not  be  established.  He  admits  the 
probability  that  the  Three  Persons  in  the  Godhead  have 
each  the  fulness  of  the  Divine  Essence  ;  but  states  that 
on  this  and  kindred  subjects  we  must  be  entirely  de- 
pendent on  the  statements  of  Scripture  and  of  Church 
tradition.  So  far  was  he  from  seeking  to  reconcile 
Christian  doctrine  with  reason  or  philosophy,  that  he 
affirmed  the  existence  of  two  mutually  contradictory 
kinds  of  truth,  and  thus  opened  a  way  for  himself  and 
'  Note  F.  *  Cousin,  "  Hist,  of  Mod.  PhU.,"ii.,  27. 


THE  INVfNCIBLE  DOCTOR.  2X1 

his  followers  to  profess  a  fervent  submission  to  Church 
Authority,  and  still  receive  the  findinj^fs  of  their 
philosophies. 

Ockam  was  extremely  reser\'ed  upon  the  great 
doctrines  of  the  Christian  faith  ;  but  he  was  led  to 
deal  with  the  tenet  of  Transubstantiation,  and  sought 
to  justify  its  reception.  He  tried  even  to  argue  for  it 
on  philosophical  principles,  by  seeking  to  show  that 
Aristotle  was  wrong  in  affirming  that  a  body  could  not 
move  in  two  opposite  directions  at  the  same  time. 
He  admitted  that  the  arguments  of  Thomas  Aquinas  in 
favour  of  the  doctrine  were  insufficient,  and  even  said 
that  the  statement  of  the  New  Testament,  that  the 
Body  of  Jesus  was  taken,  did  not  prove  it,  as  there  were 
other  ways  of  interpreting  that  statement.  But  inas- 
much as  the  Church  had  in  solemn  Council  assembled 
affirmed  the  doctrine  so  definitely,  its  decision  must 
have  proceeded  from  a  revelation.  He  also  said  that 
the  Body  of  Christ  could  be  contained  in  the  elements 
in  the  same  manner  that  soul  and  body  occupy  one 
and  the  same  space  at  the  same  time  ;  as  the  soul 
exists  in  every  body,  so  Christ  exists  wholly  in  every 
single  host. 

The  boldly  sensational  and  decidedly  empirical 
teachings  of  Ockam,  both  in  theology  and  philosophy, 
roused  many  vigorous  controversies,  in  which  the  lead- 
ing thinkers  of  succeeding  generations  earnestly  en- 
gaged. Henry  le  Grand,  the  Solemn  Doctor  (ob.  1293}; 
Walter  Burleigh,  the  Perspicuous  Doctor  (flourished 
1337)5  Thomas  Bradwardine,  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury (ob.  1439)  ;  and  Thomas  of  Strasburg  (ob.  1357), 
ably  defended  the  cause  of  Realism  ;  whilst  Durand  de 
Saint  Pourgain,  the  Resolute  Doctor  (ob.  1333)  ;  Jean 
Buridan    de     Bethune    (ob.     1358)  ;     Cardinal    Pierre 


2S2         GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

D'Ailly  (ob.  1425)  ;  and  Gabriel  Biel,  1495,  as  firmly 
sustained  the  cause  of  Nominalism.  It  is  not  the 
province  of  this  book  to  speak  of  these  controversies  at 
length  ;  they  are  summed  up  sufficiently  in  these  words 
of  Victor  Cousin  : — 

"  The  controversy  represents  very  well  the  struggle  of 
empiricism  and  idealism.  It  was  sustained  on  both  sides 
with  much  talent  and  skill,  and  both  parties  enlisted  very  com- 
mendable names ;  it  continued  nearly  a  century.  Nothing  else 
than  scepticism  could  have  sprung  from  it.  But  what  scepti- 
cism could  there  be  in  the  middle  age?  The  human  mind 
had  not  arrived  at  that  degree  of  independence  which  enabled 
it  to  question  the  basis  itself — that  is,  theology;  scepticism 
could  then  only  fall  on  the  form,  that  is,  scholastic  philosophy, 
and  it  completely  destroyed  it  Hence  the  great  decrial  of 
Scholasticism  among  all  the  good  spirits  of  the  fifteenth  century, 
and  hence  still  the  formation  of  a  new  system — of  that  system 
which  we  have  hitherto  seen  issuing  after  scepticism,  from  the 
struggle  between  sensualism  and  idealism,  I  mean  mysticism."^ 

The  ground  Ockam  took  in  his  works  on  the  public 
events  of  the  day  constituted  him  the  Reformer  of  the 
School.  If  Aquinas  be  reckoned  the  Philosopher, 
Bonaventura  the  Mystic,  Duns  the  Logician,  Roger 
Bacon  the  Scientist,  then  certainly  Ockam  may  justly 
be  reckoned  the  Reformer  of  the  Scholastic  movement. 
He  courageously  affirmed  not  only  that  the  Pope  had 
no  right  to  interfere  in  matters  of  temporal  interest  br 
concern,  but  also  that  he  was  not  to  be  trusted  as 
infallible  even  in  doctrinal  matters.  Many  shared  these 
opinions  with  him  ;  but  he  seemed  to  surpass  all  his 
contemporaries  in  his  reforming  tendencies,  for  he 
even  disputed  the  right  of  a  General  Council  to  be 
considered  a  Court  of  Final  Appeal.  This  was  antici- 
pating the  Reformers  of  the  fifteenth  century  in  a 
"  Hist,  of  Mod.  Phil.,"  ii.,  30. 


THE  INVINCIBLE  DOCTOR.  283 

remarkable  manner.      He  went    further  even  than  this 
in  his  boldness  o{  opinion.      He  ventured  to  discard  all 
human  authority  as  being  binding  on  his  will  and  con- 
science.     He  disowned  even  the  teaching  of  his  master, 
and  took  a  more  daring  stand   in   this  direction   than 
any   man   since   the  downfall    of  Ancient    J'hilosophy, 
He  said  :  "  I  do  not  support  this  opinion  because  he 
(Duns)  lays  it  down,  but  because  I   think  it  true,  and 
therefore  if  he  has  declared  elsewhere  the  opposite,  I 
care  not."      Such  were  his  words  ;   in  the  full  exercise 
of  the  right  of  private  judgment  in  the  present  centur)'-, 
such  a  vaunt  would  be  the  outcome  of  an  empty  mind, 
but  as  coming  from  a  Franciscan  monk  of  the  fourteenth 
century,  it  was  as  the  voice  of  one  crying  in  the  wilder- 
ness, "  Prepare  ye  the  way  of  the   Lord,"  a  sound  more 
precious    and    important    than    scientific    discover}''  or 
mechanical  invention,  because  it  was  the  harbinger  of  a 
condition  of  mind  which  carried  in  itself  the  secret  of 
all   human    progress    and    intellectual    expansion,   and 
which   would   open   out  a  path   in   which    both   Roger 
Bacon    and    Martin    Luther     might     lead     numberless 
throngs  of  followers  in  safety. 

The  works  of  Ockam  have  never  been  collected 
and  published  in  an  uniform  edition.  They  are  very 
scarce,  and  are  carefully  preserved  in  some  of  the  great 
libraries  of  Europe.  So  difficult  are  they  of  access 
that  Brucker,  when  he  wrote  his  *'  History  of  Philosophy," 
had  not  seen  them,  and  even  one  so  widely  read  as  Sir 
James  Mackintosh  had  not  been  able  to  consult  them. 
Tenneman  and  others  have  given  extracts  from  them, 
which  make  their  spirit  unmistakably  understood  ; 
whilst  Prantl  and  Hareau  have  given  to  recent  conti- 
nental literature  able  accounts  of  his  life  and  works. 
He  wrote  chiefly  in  the  form  usual  to  the  Schoolmen, 


2^4         GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

of  question  and  answer,  and  his  writings  ranged  over 
subjects  in  logic,  psychology,  physics,  and  ecclesiastical 
reform.  He  raised  Nominalism  to  its  highest  point  of 
position  and  influence,  and  practised  the  critical  method 
upon  other  theories  \vith  extraordinary  ingenuity  and 
force.  He  was  a  remarkable  and  unanticipated  product 
of  his  age,  and  if  he  did  not  succeed  in  constructing  a 
system  of  philosophy,  which  was  so  perfectly  balanced 
and  adjusted  as  to  resist  opposing  influences,  he  did 
great  service  by  exposing  some  of  the  drawbacks  of 
existing  systems,  and  especially  by  his  bold  defiance 
of  ecclesiastical  assumption  prepared  the  mind  of 
Christendom  for  a  huge  advance  in  the  direction  of 
perfect  spiritual  liberty. 

Note  A. 
"The  thought,  the  spoken  word,  the  written  letter,  are  with  him 
all  signs.  But  they  are  not  sacraments.  They  are  not  bound  up 
with  the  thing  to  which  they  refer.  They  express  our  mind,  not 
the  mind  of  the  Creator  about  that  thing.  They  denote  what  we 
have  apprehended  of  it.  Out  of  these  apprehensions  come  forth  the 
judgments  which  are  still  ours,  they  are  formed  into  a  sjdlogism; 
these  exercise  a  force  upon  our  fellows." — Maurice,  "  Mor.  and 
Met.  Phil.,"ii.,  7. 

Note  B. 

Mr.  Maurice  seems  to  disagree  with  this  view.  He  says  :  "  He 
affirms  that  Universals,  having  no  reality  in  themselves,  have 
a  reality  in  God  :  that  when  you  speak  of  His  Nature,  you  dis- 
cover a  meaning  for  them  which  takes  them  out  of  the  region  of 
mere  conceptions." — "  Mor.  and  Met.  Phil.,"  ii.,  8. 

Ockam,  however,  is  very  distinct  on  this  point.  He  says  : 
"  Idea;  non  sunt  in  Deo  subjective  et  realiter,  sed  tantum  sunt  in 

ipso  objective  tanquam  quae  dam  cognita  ab  ipso " — "  In . 

Magistrum  Sentent.,"  I.  Dist.,  35,  q.  5. 

Note  C. 
"We  arc  conscious  that  we  understand   and  will,  but  whether 


TJJE  hVVINCIBLE  DOCTOR.  285 

these  acts  be  performed  by  an  immaterial  and  incorruptible  prin- 
ciple is  a  matter  of  which  we  are  not  conscious,  and  which  is  no 
further  the  subject  of  demonstration  than  it  is  of  experience.  All 
attempts  to  prove  it  must  be  founded  on  something  doubtfuL" — 
Ockam,  quoted  by  Tenruinan,  "  Hist,  of  Phil." 

Note  D. 

"The  precise  distinction  between  rrescntative  and  Representa- 
tive knowledge,  and  the  different  mcanmgs  of  the  word  Object,— 
the  want  of  which  has  involved  our  modern  philosophy  in  great 
confusion, — I  had  long  ago  evolved  from  my  own  reflection,  and 
before  I  was  aware  that  a  parallel  distinction  had  been  taken  by  the 
Schoolmen  undc  the  name  Intuitive  and  Abstract  knowledge 
(cognitio  Intuitiva  et  Abstractiva  or  Visionis  et  Simplicis  Intelli- 
gentice.)  Of  these,  the  former  they  defined— //zi"  knowledge  of  a 
thing  present  as  it  is  present  [cognitio  rei  prcesentis  iit  prcBsens  est); 
the  latter — the  knowledge  of  a  thing  not  as  it  is  present  [cognitio  rei 
no7i  nt  prcEsen'i  est).  This  distinction  remounts  among  the  Latin 
Schoolmen,  to  at  least  the  middle  of  the  eleventh  century ;  for  I 
find  that  both  Anselm  and  Hugo  a  Sancto  Victore  notice  it.  It 
was  certainly  not  borrowed  from  the  Arabians  ;  for  Averrhoes  at 
the  end  of  the  following  century  seems  unaware  of  it.  In  fact,  it 
bears  upon  its  front  the  indication  of  a  Christian  origin  ;  for  as 
Scotus  and  Ariminensis  notice,  the  term  Intuitive  was  probably 
suggested  by  St.  Paul's  expression,  '  ^acie  ad  faciem,'  as  the 
Vulgate  has  it  (i  Cor.  xiii,  12).  For  intu  tive  in  this  sense,  the 
lower  Greeks  sometimes  employed  thf  terms  firoTmKos  and 
avTormKosy  a  sense  unknown  to  the  le>  icographers  ;  — but  they 
do  not  appear  to  have  taken  the  cotmter-distinction.  The  term 
abstract  or  abstractive  was  less  fortunately  chosen  than  its  correla- 
tive ;  for  besides  the  signification  in  question  as  opposed  to  intui- 
tive, in  which  case  we  look  away  from  the  concrete  object,  it  was 
likewise  employed  in  opposition  to  concrete,  and  though  improperly 
as  a  synonyme  of  Universal,  in  which  case  we  took  away  from 
each  and  every  individual  object  of  inhesion.  As  this  last  is  the 
meaning  in  which  abstract,  as  it  was  originally,  is  now  exclusively 
employed,  and  as  representative  is  otherwise  a  far  preferable 
expression,  it  would  manifestly  be  worse  than  idle  to  attempt  its 
resuscitation  in  the  former  sense. 

"  The  propriety  and  importance   of  the  distinction  is  unques- 
tionable ;  but  the  Schoolmen— at  least  the  great  majority  who  held 


286         GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  ACES. 

the  doctrine  of  intentional  species — wholly  spoiled  it  in  application  ; 
by  calling  the  representative  perception  they  allowed  of  external 
things  by  the  name  of  an  intuitive  cognition,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
idle  thesis  which  many  of  them  defended — that  by  a  miracle  we 
could  have  an  intuitive  apprehension  of  a  distant,  nay  even  of  a 
non-existent,  object.  This  error,  I  may  notice,  is  the  corollary  of 
another  of  which  I  am  soon  to  speak — the  holding  that  external 
things  though  known  only  through  species  are  immediately  known 
in  themselves." — Hamilton's  "  Reid,"  812. 

Note  E. 
The  fortune  of  this  word  is  curious.  Employed  by  Plato  to  ex- 
press the  real  forms  of  the  intelligible  world,  in  lofty  contrast  to  the 
unreal  images  of  the  sensible,  it  was  lowered  by  Descartes,  who 
extended  it  to  the  objects  of  our  consciousness  in  general.  When, 
after  Gassendi,  the  school  of  Condillac  had  analysed  our  highest 
faculties  into  our  lowest,  the  idea  was  still  more  deeply  degraded 
from  its  high  original.  Like  a  fallen  angel,  it  was  relegated  from 
the  sphere  of  Divine  intelligence  to  the  atmosphere  of  human  sense ; 
till  at  last  Ideologie  (more  correctly  Idealogie),  a  word  which  could 
only  properly  suggest  an  ^  priori  scheme,  deducing  our  knowledge 
from  the  intellect,  has  in  France  become  the  name  peculiarly  dis- 
tinctive of  that  philosophy  of  mind  which  exclusively  derives  our 
knowledge  from  the  senses.  Word  and  thing,  ideas,  have  been  the 
crux philosophoruni,  since  Aristotle  sent  them  packing  (xaipiTcoaap 
Idfai)  to  the  present  day.'' — Hamilton,  "  Discussions,"  69. 

Note  F. 

Ockam  and.  Locke  seem  to  have  held  corresponding  ideas  on  the 
"possible  materiality  of  the  soul. 

"  We  have  the  ideas  of  matter  and  thinking,  but  possibly  shall 
never  be  able  to  know  whether  any  mere  material  being  thinks  or 
no  ;  it  being  impossible  for  us,  by  the  contemplation  of  our  own 
ideas,  without  rev^elation  to  discover  whether  Omnipotency  has  not 
given  to  some  systems  of  matter  fitly  disposed  a  power  to  perceive 
and  think,  or  else  joined  and  fixed  to  matter  so  disposed,  a  thinking 
immaterial  substance  :  it  being,  in  respect  of  our  notions,  not  much 
more  remote  from  our  comprehension  to  conceive  that  God  can,  if 
He  please,  superadd  to  matter  a  faculty  of  thinking,  than  that  he 
should  superadd  to  it  another  substance,  with  a  faculty  of  think- 
ing ;  since  we  know  not  wherein  thinking  consists,  nor  to  what  sort 


THE  INVINCIBLE  DOCTOR.  2S7 

of  substances  llic  Almighty  lias  been  pleased  to  give  that  power, 
which  cannot  be  in  any  created  being,  but  mexely  by  the  good  plea- 
sure and  bounty  of  the  Creator.  For  1  see  no  contradiction  in  it, 
that  the  first  eternal  liiinking  Being  should,  if  He  please,  give  to 
certain  systems  of  created  senseless  matter,  put  together  as  He 
thinks  fit,  some  degrees  of  sense,  perception,  and  thought  :  though, 
as  I  think  I  have  proved,  it  is  no  less  than  a  contradiction  to 
suppose  rruitter  (which  is  evidently  in  its  own  nature  void  of  sense 
and  thought)  should  be  that  eternal  first  thinking  Being.  What 
certainty  of  knowledge  can  any  one  have  that  some  perceptions,  such 
as,  e.g.,  pleasure  and  pain,  should  not  be  in  some  bodies  themselves 
after  a  certain  manner,  modified  and  moved,  as  well  as  that  they 
should  be  in  an  immaterial  substance  upon  the  motion  of  the  parts 
of  the  body." — "Essay  on  Human  Understanding,'  Bk.  iv.,  c.  iii., 
s.  6,  p.  399. 


I 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE  MOST  CHRISTIAN  DOCTOR.— JEAN  CHARLIER 
GERSON. 


I 


19 


"  And  deem  not  profitless  those  fleeting  moods 
Of  shadowy  exaltation  :  not  tor  this 
That  they  are  kindred  to  our  purer  mind 
And  intellectual  life  ;  but  that  the  soul, 
Remembering  how  she  felt,  but  what  she  felt 
Remembering  not,  retains  an  obscure  sense 
Of  possible  sublimity,  whereto 
With  growing  faculties  she  doth  aspire, 
With  faculties  still  growing,  feeling  still 
That  whatsoever  point  they  gain,  tliey  yet 
Have  something  to  pursue." 

Wordsworth. 


XVII. 

THE  MOST  CHRISTIAN  DOCTOR-JEAN  CHARLIER 
GERSON. 

William  of  Ockam  closed  the  line  of  the.^r^^/ School- 
men.     Scholasticism    culminated   in   Thomas   Aquinas. 
Duns    Scotus  was  on   the  whole  a  more   accomplished 
logician,  but  he  was  not  so  great  a  piiilosophei',  whilst 
Ockam,    though   inferior   to   both,   still     rendered    such 
service  to   intellectual    progress,    and    manifested   such 
astonishing   acuteness  and    vigour  of  thought,  as  to  be 
w-ell   entitled   to  a  position    amongst  the   leading  Scho- 
lastics.    After  him  came  the  decline,  which  was  both 
marked  and  rapid.      No  Scholastic  who  was  at  all  equal 
to  him  arose  in  the  noisy  and   passionate    controversies 
which   raged  for  a  century  after  his  death.      It  was  the 
battle  of  idealism  and  sensationalism  ;  it  was  maintained 
with  great   warmth   and  much   skill  by  both  sides;  each 
school  of  [philosophy  sent  men  of  great  talent  into  the 
arena,  and  the  result  was   undoubtedly  much  gain,  gain 
to  the  cause  of  intellectual   freedom,  to  the  diffusion  of 
religious  truth,  and  to  the  advancem.ent  of  intelligence 
throughout  Christcndoni. 

One  effect  of  the  spirited  attacks  of  such  accom- 
plished writers  as  D'Ailly,  Clemangi,  and  Biel.  upon  the 
long-cstabiishcd   Ucaiism  ol"  tlie   Middle   Ajj-cs,  was  the 


2y2         GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

decline,  and  eventually  the  destruction,  of  the  form  or 
method  of  Scholasticism.  As  the  controversy  pro- 
longed itself  after  the  death  of  Ockam,  it  gradually 
degenerated  into  mere  lifeless  subtilties,  until  the  public 
mind  became  weary  of  the  struggle,  and  several  results 
ensued  which  the  combatants  could  not  have  antici- 
pated. 

One  result  was  the  somewhat  violent  vibration  of  the 
intellectual  consciousness  of  Europe  in  the  direction  of 
Platonism,  under  the  influence  of  which  Marsilio  Ficino 
and  others  strove  earnestly  to  diminish  or  destroy  the 
overwhelming  power  of  Aristotle.  These  writers  pro- 
ceeded so  far  as  to  raise  Plato  into  comparison  with 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  in  their  zeal  for  the  revival 
of  ancient  classical  literature  invested  the  principles  of 
the  Christian  religion  with  Ciceronian  and  Horatian 
phrase.  Therefore,  in  the  course  of  two  or  three 
generations  the  learned  men  of  Southern  Christendom 
had  become  comparatively  paganized,  and  the  Pope 
himself  (Leo  X.)  was  far  more  a  Grecian  litterateur 
than  a  humble  minister  of  the  Teacher  of  Galilee. 

Another  result  of  the  reaction  from  the  degenerate 
Scholasticism  of  the  fourteenth  century  was  a  decided 
movement  of  the  Christian  consciousness  in  the  direction 
of  Mysticism.  The  later  Schoolmen,  in  descending  to 
frivolous  refinements  and  mere  dialectic  subtilties, 
became  divested  of  the  spiritual  life  and  power  whereby 
their  predecessors  had  been  able-  to  hold  under  their 
spell  the  devout,  as  well  as  the  intellectually  vigorous 
of  the  Church.  Those  therefore  who  yearned  for  a 
higher  spiritual  experience  rebelled  against  the  clamour 
of  perpetual  controversy,  which  failed  to  contribute  to 
the  Divine  life  in  man.  A  spirit  developed  itself  which 
longed   for  relief  from  the  wearying  din  of  strife  ;  the 


THE  MOST  CHRISTIAN  DOCTOR,  293 

schoolboy  is  carried  by  time  beyond  the  excitement  of 
the  debating  class,  and  reaches  a  stage  of  life  when 
deeper  sensibilities  and  a  widening  future  beckon  him 
to  sober  reverie,  and  a  more  fervently  conscious  purpose. 
So  the  Christian  life  of  the  later  Middle  Age  sought  to 
send  the  multitudes  away  that  it  might  depart  into  a 
desert  place  to  pray,  or  that  it  might  cultivate  a  fuller 
acquaintance  with  the  profoundest  realities  of  religion 
than  the  strife  of  the  school  permitted.  The  revolt  was 
not  a  violent  one,  nor  was  it  accomplished  by  loud 
demonstration  ;  it  was  scarcely  articulately  expressed  to 
themselves,  even  by  those  who  were  leaders  of  it  ;  it 
was  rather  an  unconscious  growth  from  the  minute  and 
attenuated  divisions  and  subdivisions  of  Scholasticism. 
It  was  an  attempt  to  get  back  to  the  freedom  and 
simplicity  of  the  Gospel,  to  regain  the  childlike  faith  by 
which,  unencumbered  with  logical  method  and  form,  the 
spirit  could  press  into  the  hidden  glory  of  the  Divine 
Presence,  where  the  Eternal  Spirit  and  the  human  spirit 
could  meet  in  fellowship,  where  special  illumination 
could  be  enjoyed,  where,  instead  of  seeking  to  compress 
the  truth  into  elaborate  systems  of  Dogma,  it  might  be 
partaken  of  freely  and  directly  from  the  infinite 
Fountain. 

Mysticism  was  not  a  new  dcvclopm.cnt  of  Christian 
life  :  it  had  appeared  with  much  grace  in  the  writings  ol 
Bernard,  of  Hugo  and  Richard  St.  Victor,  of  Bonaven- 
tura  ;  but  it  was  soon  to  revive  and  assume  a  position 
of  greater  importance  in  the  lives  and  labours  of 
Ruysbrock,  of  Eckart,  of  Taulcr,  and  through  them  to 
aid  in  awakening  a  nobler  spiritual  life  throughout 
Christendom. 

One  great  spirit  reflected  more  exactly  than  others 
this  transition   temper  of  the  times.      He  was  imbued 


2<?4         GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

with  tlie  spirit  of  Scholasticism,  but  also  responded 
quickly  to  the  deeper  spiritual  life  which  was  yearning 
for  expression,  and  through  him  the  nascent  Mysticism 
of  the  century  found  a  gracious  utterance.  This  was 
Jean  Charlier  Gerson,  a  Frenchman,  who  became  a 
brilliant  link  in  the  chain  of  pious  and  devout  souls 
who  as  Mystics  have  given  a  large  measure  of  brightness 
to  the  religious  history  of  that  nation. 

He  was  born  December  14th,  1363,  in  the  village 
of  Gerson,  within  the  Bishopric  of  Rheims,  and 
in  the  Department  of  Ardennes.  His  father  was 
Arnulph  Charlier,  his  mother  Elizabeth  de  .la  Charde- 
niero.  They  belonged  to  the  peasant  class  of  society, 
and  were  both  characterised  by  a  habit  of  humble  and 
earnest  piety.  They  strove  to  cultivate  in  their  children 
the  spirit  of  religion,  and  sometimes  even  by  methods 
which  were  far  from  prudent,  and  which  might  have 
entirely  frustrated  the  purpose  they  had  in  view. 
Dupin  relates  that  in  order  to  impress  the  youthful 
Jean  with  the  reality  and  value  of  prayer,  they  taught 
him  as  often  as  he  begged  for  cakes  and  sweetmeats  to 
supplicate  for  them  on  his  knees  before  God,  and  after 
a  short  period  of  expectant  waiting,  they  were  thrown 
plentifully  to  him  out  of  an  upper  window.  It  is 
evident,  however,  that  there  was  a  real  power  of  godli- 
ness in  their  lives,  for  their  children  imbibed  their 
spirit,  and  out  of  a  family  of  twelve  they  were  rewarded 
by  seeing  four  of  their  daughters  and  three  of  their 
sons  devoting  themselves  to  a  religious  life.  At  the 
age  of  fourteen  Jean  was  sent  to  Paris,  and  commenced 
his  studies  at  the  College  of  Navarre,  which  was  then 
famous  for  the  excellence  of  its  lectures.  Five  years 
were  spent  here  in  assiduous  study,  at  the  close  of 
which  period  he  became  a  licentiate  of  arts.     Then  he 


THE  MOST  CHRISTIAN  DOCTOR.  295 

began  a  course  of  theological  reading  under  Giles  de 
Champs  and  Peter  d'Ailly.  Between  Gerson  and 
D'Ailly  there  sprang  up  a  warm  friendship,  which 
endured  through  life,  and  in  the  course  of  which  their 
relative  positions  became  reversed,  the  student  becoming 
the  leader  of  his  teacher.  The  youth  rose  rapidly  into 
notice  :  when  only  twenty  years  of  age  he  was  elected 
Procurator  in  the  university  for  the  French  nation,  and 
was  re-elected  to  the  office  in  the  following  year.  When 
he  was  twenty-one,  he  took  the  degree  of  Bachelor  in 
Theology,  and  when  twenty-four  he  was  deputed,  in 
company  with  the  Chancellor  of  the  University  and 
others,  to  appear  before  the  Pope  in  a  case  of  appeal. 

From  his  early  manhood  he  imbibed  the  reforming 
spirit  which  was  rising  around  him  ;  he  felt  a  noble 
anxiety  to  aid  in  pouring  a  new  measure  of  spiritual 
life  into  the  university,  and  to  raise  the  standard  of 
clerical  morality,  but  especially  he  was  fired  with  an 
intense  desire  to  end  the  hateful  schism  of  the  Church 
in  relation  to  the  Popedom,  which  was  the  scandal  not 
only  of  Christendom  but  of  the  world. 

In  1392  he  took  his  degree  of  Doctor  of  Theology, 
and  three  years  later,  when  only  thirty-two  years  old, 
he  was  elected  the  Chancellor  of  the  University,  and  a 
Canon  of  the  Cathedral  of  Notre  Dame.  The  Uni- 
versity was  then  in  its  full  blush  of  fame,  and  the 
Chancellor  occupied  a  very  prominent  and  responsible 
position.  He  was  sworn  to  maintain  its  rights  and 
privileges  intact  against  Pope  or  King  or  any  aggressor, 
and  he  was  often  required  to  exercise  his  influence  on 
affairs  of  critical  importance.  Upon  him  also  devolved, 
at  least  ostensibly,  the  duty  of  securing  the  welfare  of 
the  many  thousands  of  students  who  crowded  to  the 
great  centre  of  learning  from  all  parts  of  Europe.     On 


296         GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

assuming  this  high  and  honourable  office,  Gerson 
assiduously  applied  himself  to  revise  the  entire  course 
of  study  he  found  in  operation.  He  strove  to  banish 
the  methods  of  Scholasticism,  and  to  introduce  a  system 
of  biblical  exposition  combined  with  the  study  of  the 
early  Church  Fathers.  He  seemed  to  anticipate  the 
Reformers  in  his  desire  to  establish  a  simple  and  natural 
method  of  interpreting  the  Scriptures.  Like  Luther 
also,  he  was  led- to  adopt  Nominalistic  principles  as  the 
basis  of  his  philosophy.  A  Nominalist  pure  and  simple 
he  could  not  be,  and  he  sought  to  incorporate  into  his 
system  many  of  the  elements  of  Mysticism  as  taught 
by  the  monks  of  St.  Victor.  He  sought  thus  to  avoid 
the  palpable  errors  of  Nominalism  on  the  one  hand, 
and  the  equally  dangerous  Pantheistic  conclusions  of 
Amalric  of  Bena,  and  David  of  Dinanto,  upon  the  other. 
He  laboured  assiduously  to  cultivate  a  noble  spirituality 
in  the  life  of  the  University,  and  won  for  himself  the 
much-to-be-coveted  title  of  Doctor  Christianissimus, 
which  he  has  worn  in  Church  history  interchangeably 
with  that  of  Doctor  Consolatorius,  conferred  on  him  in 
consequence  of  the  rich  spiritual  comfort  with  which 
the  devotional  works  of  his  later  years  are  stored.  The 
duties  of  his  office  as  Chancellor  were  often  intolerably 
irksome  to  him  ;  so  much  was  merely  secular  that  he 
revolted  from  harassing  occupations  foreign  to  his  mind, 
involving  him  in  frequent  wranglings,  in  petty  disputes 
about  money  matters,  and  which  especially  deprived 
him  of  the  opportunities  for  learned  leisure  which  he 
greatly  coveted. 

With  the  view  of  ridding  himself  of  many  uncongenial 
duties,  he  laid  down  his  high  and  honourable  calling  in 
the  university,  and  accepted  the  quiet  retreat  of  the 
Deanery  of  Bruges.     But  the  times  were  too  much  in 


THE  MOST  CHRISTIAN  DOCTOR.  297 

need  of  noble  and  high-minded  men  like  him  to  conduct 
the  pressing  and  anxious  discussions  then  occupying 
public  attention,  and  ere  long  he  was  again  called  to 
the  front,  and  reinstated  as  the  Chancellor  of  the  Uni- 
versity. From  this  time  his  public  life  was  devoted 
to  destroy  the  great  schism  in  the  Papacy,  which  had 
become  a  scandal  unendurable  to  Christendom. 

In  1378  the  Archbishop  of  Bari  was  elected  Pope  of 
Rome.  He  took  the  title  of  Urban  VI.,  and  for  three 
months  was  acknowledged  as  such  by  the  College  of 
Cardinals  and  by  the  whole  of  the  Church.  Having 
given  great  offence  by  a  course  of  harsh  and  haughty 
behaviour,  the  legality  of  his  election  was  objected  to, 
the  Cardinals  called  upon  him  to  resign  his  office,  and 
then  elected  Cardinal  Robert  of  Geneva  to  the  Papal 
chair.  He  assumed  the  title  of  Clement  VII.,  took  up 
his  residence  at  Avignon,  and  was  acknowledged  as 
Pope  by  Sicily,  France,  and  Spain.  Urban  steadily 
refused  to  resign  his  dignity,  and  was  received  as  Pope 
by  the  rest  of  Europe.  Two  lines  of  rival  Popes 
cursed  and  anathematised  each  other  for  thirty-two 
years,  when  the  council  of  Pisa  was  summoned  by  the 
College  of  Cardinals  to  consider  how  the  disgraceful 
schism  might  be  ended.  The  question  of  the  validity 
of  a  General  Council  not  summoned  by  the  Pope  was 
dealt  with  by  Gerson  in  a  treatise,  in  which  he  advocated, 
with  the  utmost  boldness,  and  with  profound  learning, 
the  perfect  legality  of  the  Council,  and  even  vindicated 
its  authority  as  being  above  that  of  the  Pope.  The 
rival  Pontiffs  refused  to  recognise  the  Council  or  to 
appear  before  it,  whereupon  it  proceeded  to  depose 
them  from  their  office,  and  elected  an  entirely  new  Pope, 
Peter  of  Candia,  Cardinal  of  Milan,  who  took  the  name 
of    Alexander   V.     Before    him    Gerson     preached    a 


298  GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

sermon  on  the  purity  of  the  Church,  which  urged  the 
reformation  of  crying  abuses  in  the  most  forceful 
manner.  The  ghost  of  controversy  and  schism  was  not 
laid  by  this  well  meaning  Council.  The  scandal  was 
only  aggravated,  and  well-wishers  of  the  Church  were 
horrified  by  now  seeing  tliree  rival  Popes  urging  their 
claims  and  raging  against  each  other.  In  141  o,  after  a 
short  and  stormy  pontificate  of  one  year,  Alexander 
died,  and  was  succeeded  by  Cardinal  Balthazar  Cossa, 
who  took  the  name  of  John  XXIII.  This  man,  who 
assumed  to  be  the  successor  of  St.  Peter,  and  the  vice- 
gerent of  the  meek  and  lowly  Jesus,  was  more  than 
susp'ected  of  having  poisoned  his  predecessor,  and  is 
described  but  too  truly  by  his  secretary,  Theodoric 
d  Niem,  as  indulging  in  extortions,  cruelties,  and 
debaucheries  horrible  and  indescribable.  His  licen- 
tiousness when  Legate  at  Bologna  was  such  that  two 
hundred  maids,  wives,  widows,  and  nuns  were  counted 
as  victims  of  his  lust.  Daily,  victims  were  executed  to 
gratify  his  exacting  tyranny,  and  no  depth  of  depravity 
seemed  too  low  for  him  to  descend  into.  It  may  well 
be  concluded  that,  with  such  a  professed  Head,  the  body 
of  the  Church  was  far  from  being  either  holy  or  virtuous. 
Such  a  Pope  aroused  against  himself  all  the  pious 
sentiment  and  reforming  temper  of  the  age.  He  had 
also  to  face  the  deadly  enmity  of  Ladislaus,  King 
of  Naples,  who  was  a  devoted  partisan  of  one  of 
the  rival  Popes,  Benedict  XIII.  Ladislaus  besieged 
Cossa  in  his  imperial  city  of  Rome,  who  when  the 
city  was  taken  escaped  to  Florence,  and  thence  to 
Bologna.  There  he  was  induced,  by  the  mingled  power 
and  skill  of  Sigismund,  the  Emperor  of  Germany,  to 
take  for  him  the  fatal  step  of  summoning  the  Council 
of  Constance,  which  he  hoped  would  establish  him  as 


THE  MOST  CHRIST/AN'  DOCTOR.  299 

the  undi-puted  rontiff  oi  Christendom.  The  Council 
was  called  by  letters  from  the  Emperor  and  a  Bull  from 
the  Pope  to  meet  in  the  autumn  of  the  year  14 14. 
Sigismund  guaranteed  his  full  protection  to  all  who 
should  attend  the  Council.  It  met  in  October,  and 
John  set  out  from  the  gates  of  Bologna  with  a  heavy 
heart  and  ominous  premonitions  of  evil,  to  open  the 
assembly.  He  had  abundant  cause  for  his  misgivings. 
Ere  the  Council  had  been  long  in  session  he  found  that 
his  position  was  a  dangerous  one.  He  was  boldly 
charged  with  the  most  abominable  crimes,  and  one 
brave  English  Bishop  went  so  far  as  to  declare  he 
should  be  burnt  at  the  stake.  A  proposition  was 
placed  before  the  Assembly  that  he  should  be  deposed 
from  the  throne,  and  he  secretly  fled  from  Constance, 
taking  refuge  in  the  Castle  of  Schaffhausen,  which  was 
owned  by  the  Duke  of  Austria.  The  Council  rose  to 
the  full  height  of  its  responsibility.  It  was  called  upon 
to  declare  that  Christendom  was  not  to  be  governed 
by  a  single  despot,  but  by  chosen  representatives,  the 
apLO-TOL  of  the  Church.  At  this  juncture  the  great 
Chancellor  of  Paris  discharged  the  highest  service  of 
his  life.  Me  had  already  published  treatises  containing 
sentiments  of  a  directly  revolutionary  tendency.  He 
had  placed  the  Emperor  in  an  authority  higher  than 
the  Pope,  as  the  following  expressions  will  show  : — 

"  If  an  hereditary  monarch  rnay  be  deposed,  how  inucli  more 
an  elective  !  If  an  Emperor,  descended  from  a  long  unbroken 
royal  lineage,  how  much  more  the  son  of  a  Venetian  fi-hcvman 
whose  father  and  mother  had  not  beans  enough  to  fill  their 
stomachs  !  The  Pope  ought  to  be  more  easily  deposed  than 
another  prelate.  If  the  I'o],.e  sins,  all  ])ariake  of  his  sins;  not 
so  if  a  P.ishop.  The  canons  on  which  rests  the  Papal  authority 
were  framed  by  fraud  and  craft.  What  is  a  Pope  ?  A  man  ! 
the  aon  of  a  man  !  clay  of  clay  !  a  sinner  liable  to  sin  !    Two 


300        GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

days  before  the  son  of  a  poor  peasant,  he  is  raised  to  be  Pope. 
Is  he  then  above  repentance,  confession,  contrition  ?  a  sinless 
angel?  a  saint?     He  is  not  above  the  Gospel."^ 

In  the  discussions  of  the  Council  Gerson  insisted 
most  strongly  on  the  doctrine  of  the  Headship  of  the 
Lord  Jesus,  that  His  presence  alone  is  essential  to  the 
existence  of  the  Church,  and  that  the  Holy  Ghost  alone 
is  the  infallible  guide  and  director  of  the  Church  ;  that 
the  Pope  is  not  the  Head  of  the  Church  save  in  a  very 
inferior  sense  ;  that  if  he  misconduct  himself  he  is  liable 
to  be  removed,  that  an  CEcumenical  Council  of  the 
Church  has  the  power  to  disenthrone  him,  that  the 
Pope  is  bound  to  obey  the  decisions  of  the  Council  and 
not  to  annul  them,  that  the  Council  is  bound  to  see  to 
the  faith  and  discipline  of  the  Church  being  preserved 
in  their  purity,  and  that  the  supreme  power  of  the 
Church  lodges  not  in  the  Pope  but  in  a  Council,  which 
is  of  unquestionable  authority  whether  the  Pope  presides 
over  it  or  not. 

Such  reasonings  as  these  swayed  the  Council  irresist- 
ibly to  its  determination  to  depose  John  from  the  Papal 
chair  ;  it  was  inspired  by  them  to  an  urgent  desire  to 
limit  the  assumptions  of  the  Popes  and  to  prevent  from 
henceforth  their  daring  usurpations.  In  its  antipapal 
and  reforming  efforts,  Gerson  was  undoubtedly  the  soul 
of  the  Assembly. 

The  bold  spirit  and  exalted  views  of  Gerson  led  him 
to  take  energetic  action  with  regard  to  another  matter 
which  seriously  affected  his  future  course.  The  Duke 
of  Burgundy  was  his  patron,  and  he  returned  him  for 
his  patronage  the  gratitude  he  deserved.  This  royal 
patron,  however,  was  not  above  practising  the  low  arts 
of  ridding  himself  of  rivals  and  enemies  employee! 
'  Milman,  viii.,  270. 


THE  MOST  CHRISTIAN  DOCTOR.  301 

by  the  nobles  and  kings  of  tliat  age,  and  he  treacher- 
ously procured  the  assassination  of  the  Duke  of 
Orleans.  Jean  Petit  came  forward  as  the  apologist 
and  defender  of  the  crime,  and  in  unambiguous  phrase 
declared  that  on  scriptural  and  moral  grounds  mis- 
chievous men  might  be  destroyed  by  private  violence. 
The  principles  affirmed  in  this  treatise  were  repulsive 
and  brutal  in  the  extreme,  and  if  put  into  general 
application  would  quickly  unloose  all  the  bonds  of 
society.  Gerson  was  filled  with  detestation  of  such 
teachings  ;  he  denounced  them  in  his  discourses  to  the 
people  of  Paris,  in  his  prelections  in  the  University, 
and  finally  with  great  force  in  the  Council  of  Constance, 
Notwithstanding  that  through  the  course  of  wearying 
and  painful  debates  Gerson  argued  the  matter  with 
great  force  of  logic  and  learning,  the  Assembly  would 
not  condemn  the  monstrous  tenets  of  Petit,  except  in 
the  most  faltering  and  compromising  manner,  and 
Gerson  was  left  at  the  close  of  its  sessions  ex^josed  to 
the  bitter  enmity  of  the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  who  now 
burned  to  wreak  vengeance  on  a  friend  who  had  dared 
to  prefer  the  truth  of  God  to  his  favour. 

One  more  event  signalised  Gerson's  presence  in  the 
Council,  in  the  course  of  which  he  contracted  what 
must  be  regarded  as  the  one  blot  upon  his  reputation. 
Present  there  under  the  pledge  of  protection  from  the 
Emperor  Sigismund  was  John  Huss,  of  Prague.  This 
noble  man  was  of  faultless  purity  of  life;  no  suspicion  of 
immorality  was  ever  breathed  against  him  ;  he  was 
accused  of  unsound  views  on  the  doctrine  of  Tran- 
substantiation,  and  of  believing  in  the  right  of  the  laity 
to  partake  of  the  cup.  He  denied  these  charges  with 
great  firmness.  He  was  then  accused  of  having 
denounced    the    vices    of   the    clergy,    and    of   having 


302         GKE AT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

taught  that  tlie  authority  of  popes  and  prelates 
depended  not  on  their  succession  to  the  titles  of  the 
Apostles,  but  on  their  succession  to  their  virtues.  He 
was  also  taxed  with  seeking  to  disseminate  the  con- 
demned tenets  of  Wycliffe,  and  of  having  undermined 
the  power  of  the  Keys.  Repeatedly  was  he  brought 
before  the  Council,  and  sometimes  in  chains.  His 
enemies  were  un;ible  to  answer  his  calm  reasonings 
from  Scripture,  but  this  only  aggravated  their  rage 
against  him.  At  last,  in  spite  of  the  safe  conduct 
given  by  Sigismund,  he  was  condemned  and  burnt  at 
the  stake,  his  voice  b.^ing  heard  above  the  crackling  of 
the  faggots,  singing  his  own* requiem.  His  ashes  were 
afterwards  collected  and  cast  into  the  Rhine,  that 
nothing  so  horrible  as  any  remains  of  his  m.ortal  flesh 
might  pollute  the  earth. 

Strange  to  say,  the  person  who  in  the  Council  sought 
his  condemnation  and  death  with  most  unflagging 
earnestness  was  Gerson.  If  his  execution  was  a  crime, 
then  the  responsibility  of  it  belonged  to  Gerson  more 
than  to  any  other  ;  no  one  urged  his  death  so  per- 
sistently, no  voice  carried  so  much  weight  and  influence; 
and  thus  history  records  the  strange  fact  that  in  that 
important  Council  one  great  Reformer,  of  noble  talents 
and  of  undoubted  purity  of  motive,  was  the  principal 
agent  in  procuring  the  execution  of  another  Reformer, 
as  gifted  and  as  pious  as  himself.  To  explain  the 
anomaly  satisfactorily  is  what  no  one  has  yet  been  able 
to  do.  Much  may  be  accounted  for  by  the  different 
standpoints  occupied  by  the  two  men.  That  of  Huss 
was  by  far  the  higher.  Gerson  seems  to  have  been 
inspired  by  a  desire  to  preserve  the  unity  of  the  Church; 
Huss  was  more  anxious  to  preserve  its  purity.  The 
Chancellor  used  all  his  groat  gifts  to  destroy  the  schism 


THE  MOST  CHRISTIAN  DOCTOR.  303 

which,  as  he  believed,  rent  the  Body  of  the  Lord  Jesus, 
and  in  all  his  efforts  to  destroy  the  despotism  of  the 
popes  this  idea  predominated.  So  also  it  was  in  his 
determined  opposition  to  Huss.  He  maintained  that 
the  Hussites  were  intolerant  men  who,  representing 
that  the  Church  was  in  error  on  matters  which  were 
not  essential  to  salvation,  were  unnecessarily  promoting 
discord  and  dividing  the  Church  against  itself.  He 
believed  they  were  quite  impervious  to  reason,  that  they 
were  dangerous  to  the  peace  of  the  Church,  and  there- 
fore urged  that  they  should  be  remitted  to  the  secular 
arm,  and  that  condign  punishment  should  be  meted 
out  to  them.  The  history  of  Gerson  in  this  episode  of 
his  career  is  unspeakably  painful.  He  was  himself  a 
bold  and  ardent  Reformer;  he  did  not  wish  to  be  cruel, 
he  would  not  be  thought  to  be  intolerant,  but  he  was 
prepared  to  sacrifice  tluss  or  any  other  man  whom  he 
thought  sought  to  destroy  the  unity  of  the  Church. 
He  could  not  understand  a  man  like  Huss,  whose 
absorbing  idea  in  life  was  truth,  and  who  would  have 
sacrificed  at  any  time,  if  needful,  mere  outward  unity 
{ot  its  sake.  The  two  men  stood  iit  opposite  poles 
both  on  philosophical  and  religious  views  ;  they  were 
equally  distant  in  habit  and  temperament  of  mind,  and 
hence  there  was  no  affinity  between  them  by  which 
Gerson  could  appreciate  or  sympathise  with  Huss, 
The  Frenchman  was  a  Nominalist,  the  Bohemian  a 
Realist  ;  the  former  sought  the  welfare  of  the  Church 
through  the  preservation  of  its  outward  organisation, 
the  latter  through  the  spirit  of  truth  being  diffused  in 
every  part  ;  Gerson  in  all  his  labours  and  struggles 
endeavoured  to  reconcile  differences,  and  restore  in  the 
Church,  in  philosophy,  in  theology,  a  lost  solidarity, 
and  in   so   doing   was  prepared  to  sacrifice  what  was 


304        GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

infinitely  higher  ;  and  when  he  could  attain  his  purpose 
in  no  other  way,  he  would  use  the  sword  of  persecution 
against  those  who  dissented  from  him ;  but  Huss,  fixing 
his  eye  upon  the  supreme  principle  of  Eternal  Righ- 
teousness, lived  and  died  for  that  sake,  and  in  so  doing 
took  his  place  in  that  most  brilliant  line  of  heroes,  "the 
noble  army  of  martyrs,"  who  have  sacrificed  all  for  the 
highest  and  noblest  ends. 

When  the  Council  closed  its  sessions,  Gerson  was 
without  a  shelter.  He  had  sacrificed  his  position  and 
honours  for  conscience'  sake  ;  Paris  was  in  the  hands  of 
the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  who  was  animated  by  a  fierce 
resentment  against  him  because  of  his  resolute  prosecu- 
tion of  Jean  Petit,  and  it  could  no  longer  be  a  home  to 
him.  He  fled  from  the  Council  in  disguise:  he  who 
had  swayed  kings  and  nobles,  and  had  so  mightily 
influenced  the  afl"airs  of  Europe,  was  a  forlorn  fugitive  ; 
his  busy  and  useful  life  became  clouded,  he  hid  himself 
in  quiet  retreats  in  Germany  until  the  tempest  had 
spent  its  force,  and  then  ventured  to  Lyons,  where  his 
brother  was  prior  in  a  convent  of  Coelestine  Monks,  and 
commenced  a  school  for  little  children.  It  is  said  that 
he  refused  to  accept  any  recompense  for  his  instruction 
except  the  promise  that  they  would  daily  offer  the 
prayer,  "  Lord,  have  mercy  upon  Thy  poor  servant 
Gerson."  Here  he  lived  calmly  and  peacefully  till,  on 
July  1 2th,  1429,  he  died,  in  a  generous  odour  of 
sanctity.  Succeeding  generations  have  embalmed  his 
memory  as  with  sweetest  fragrance,  and  the  words  of 
the  French  historian  are  scarcely  too  eulogistic:  "  Since 
the  days  of  Bernard,  the  Church  saw  not  any  author 
of  greater  reputation,  more  profound  knowledge,  or  a 
more  solid  piety,  than  Gerson."^ 

'  Dupin,  "  Hist,  of  Church,"  iii.,  304. 


THE  AfOSr  CHRISTIAN  POC'/OR.  303 

He  left  behind  him  several  Ixjok-  to  testify  of  his 
learniniT  and  piety.  A  Compendium  of  Thcolo^^y  w.i'i 
long  ascribed  to  him.  but  is  discrfdited  by  Oupiri,  tUc 
laborious  editor  of  his  works  Whether  he  wrote  the 
boolc  or  not,  it  exactly  represent',  the  eclectic  tendcncii.s 
of  liis  mind.  In  his  Rtgiiloi  MoraUa,  in  his  Liber  d>: 
Vtta  Spirituali,  and  other  of  I  is  b<x>l;s,  tlierc  is  the  same 
combination  of  Scholasticism  and  Mysticism  that  cha- 
racterises the  Compendium,  and  which  is  the  infalli!)!e 
mark  of  a  transition  period  in  human  thought.  It  is 
not  required  for  the  purpose  of  this  book  to  enter 
lengthily  »i}>on  the  special  views  of  Gerson,  cither  in 
theolo^jy  or  p]\ilosophy  ;  it  »s  sufficient  to  indicate  his 
j^cncral  position  in  relation  to  various  schools  of  thou:^dit, 
and  as  illustrating  the  tendency  of  the  times  towards 
fVeer  and  higher  enjoyment  of  truth  than  the  withes  ot 
Scholasticism  permitted.  As  a  Schoolman  he  sought 
to  define  minutely  questions  in  casuistry  of  the  most 
delicate  nature,  that  he  might  thus  inform  or  .soothe  the 
conscience  of  the  sinner  ;  he  insisted  that  thr  right  to 
interpret  Scripture  was  the  sole  privilege  of  the  Church, 
and  that  a  General  Council  could  alone  define  and 
determine  Christian  doctrine.  He  imbibrd  from  D'Ailly 
the  principles  of  Nominalism,  and  from  them  he  never 
wavered.  With  an  acutene.s.s  almo:t  worthy  o^  A(]uinas 
or  Scotus,  he  laboured  to  make  e\'i(lcnt  the  distinction 
between  mortil  and  venial  sin.  liut  us  a  Mystic  he 
sou'4ht  to  surround  Schohsticism  with  a  warmth  of 
spiritual  life  and  power  of  which  it  had  become  entirely 
denuded.  His  great  work,  composed  amidst  all  the 
exciting  and  multifarious  eiiga[;emcai:s  k^v  the  University, 
was  the  Ihcolo^ta  Mystica,  which  was  the  first  work 
issued  on  Mysticism,  called  by  that  n.iine. 

The  ultimate  and  objective  point  in  Gerson's  Mysti- 

20 


3o6        GREA  T  SCHOOLMEiV  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

cism,  as  in  that  of  all  who  belong  to  this  school,  is  God. 
He   sought  to  gain  access  to  Him  by  some  medium, 
either   in   nature  or  himself.     This   is  the  end  of  all 
Mysticism,  whether    as   expressed  in   the    Ecstacy  of 
Plotinus,  in  the  Itinerary  of  the  soul  to  God  of  Bona- 
ventura,   in   the   impassioned   sermons   of  Eckart   and 
Tauler  in   the  intellectual   intuition  of  Schelling,  or  in 
the  way  to  the  blessed  life  of  Fichte.     All  are  inspired 
by  an  irreoressible  desire  to  rise  to  a  direct  knowledge 
of  the  eternal  Fountain  of  Being.     Mysticism  in  Gerson 
based   itself  upon    individual   intuition,   an    inspiration 
which  of  course  can  be  of  no  authority  beyond   the 
individual  which  is  under  its  influence.     This  immediate 
intuition  enables  the  soul  to  come  into  direct  communion 
with    tlie   Divine    Essence,  by  which   it   receives   the 
internal  l^ght  which  enables  it  to  attain  with  certainty 
all   truth.     Gerson   stopped  short   of  the   extravagant 
views  which  were  indulged  in  by  some  of  the  German 
Mystics ;  he  was  far  from  being  carried  into  the  dangerous 
fancies  of  Ruysbroek,'  and  still  less  into  those  of  Suso 
or  of  St.  Teresa.     He  attempted  to  combine  with  the 
imtncdiate  intuition,  on  which  he  grounded  his  system, 
rejlection,  which,  gaining    its    knowledge    through   the 
senses,  is  the  foundation  of  Sensationalism,  and  which 
is  opp<^sed  to  the  very  nature  of  Mysticism.     While  he 
rejected   all   such  rapturous  visions  as  Jacob  Boehme 
and   other   extreme   Mystics  indulged,  he   taught  that 
rnan  rose  to  the  height  of  blessed   contemplation  by  a 
joyous  love,  and  then,  as  if  fearful  of  being  carried  into 
any  ridiculous  extreme,  he  insisted  that  this  state  was 
quite  compatible  with  a  calm  self-consciousness.     He  is 
to  be  clas.scd  with  the  moderate  and  rational  school  of 
Mystics,  who   form   a   noble  group   with   Bernard,  the 

'  Note  A. 


THE  MOST  CHRISTIAN  DOCTOR.  307 

Victorines,  and  Bonaventura  as  its  shining  ornaments, 
and  who  stopped  far  short  of  the  excesses  which  have 
brought  reproach  upon  the  name  of  Mysticism.  The 
Mysticism  of  Gerson  marked  an  unmistakable  reaction 
from  the  formalism  and  dogmatism  of  Scholasticism, 
although  it  was  but  a  more  positive  and  exclusive  form 
of  dogmatism  seeking  to  cast  down  and  destroy  its 
predecessor.  The  authorised  Theology  of  the  age  had 
degenerated,  it  had  lost  all  the  fervour  and  brightness 
of  divine  life,  it  was  a  jangle  of  angr}-  words  and 
sounding  names,  it  placed  growing  emphasis  upon  the 
simply  human  in  its  composition,  \t  rested  wholly  on 
the  letter,  and  the  Christian  life  of  the  age  turned  from 
the  Scholastic  to  the  Mystic,  from  the  letter  to  the 
spirit,  from  dogmatic  statement  and  angry  controversy 
to  the  inward  light  and  direct  communion  with  the 
Eternal ;  it  appealed  from  the  casuist  and  the  combatant 
of  the  school  to  the  calm  contemplative  mystic  of  the 
cell,  to  open  the  fountains  of  spiritual  life-  for  the  world's 
refreshment. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  spend  a  line  in  considering 
whether  Gerson  had  any  hand  in  producing  the  most 
striking  book  of  the  fourteenth  century,  "  The  Imitation 
of  Jesus  Christ."  If  the  evidence  be  insufficient  to  ad- 
judge it  certainly  to  the  piety  of  the  monk  Thomas, 
of  Kempen,  it  is  much  less  satisfactory  in  relation  to 
Gerson.  Internal  evidence  is  conclusive  against  him. 
The  book  itself  is  an  exact  and  marvellous  expression 
of  the  piety  and  fervour  of  the  noblest  Scholasticism. 
and  of  the  nascent  Mysticism.  That  it  failed  to  aiford 
a  full  view  of  Christian  doctrine  is  true  ;  it  is  not  a 
handbook  Ql  Theologv'.  but  a  guide  to  devotion  ;  yet 
none  could  have  written  it  who  had  not  been  trained 
thoroughly  in   the  paths  of    the  higher  Scholasticism 


51,8       (,■•:/■■  IV  .s(Vi(>(y/ .]rr:\  or  tuf  Mtrni r.  AC.r.s. 

No  mero  Scl-oKislic  could  have  produced  it,  but  only 
one  whose  hrart  v/hs  responsive  to  the  brightest  and 
warnDest  piety  of  the  past,  and  who  laboured  with 
intenscat  desire  to  express  it  for  his  generation.  It 
supplied  a  cr)-ing  need  in  the  Christian  life  of  that  day, 
and  its  mission  is  not  yet  ended.  It  is  full  of  sharp, 
■^hortliving  sentences  which  speak  to  the  heart  and 
dwell  upon  the  memor)'  ;  it  is  the  outcome  of  a  soul 
absoih'd  in  the  vision  of  Christly  beauty  which  has 
been  revealed  to  it,  and  it  is  the  most  perfect  guide  to* 
a  m<*r(ly  devotional  life  which  has  ever  been  issued, 
l^ut  ft  fails  to  express  a  perfect  idea  either  of  Christianity 
or  a  Christian  life.  It  is  monastic  Christianity  it  paints, 
and  a  monastic  life  it  would  lead  to,  and  it  must  ever 
f.vil  to  bo  a  spiritual  guide  book  for  those  who  must 
busily  mingle  in  the  world's  common  duties  and  busi- 
ness, or  who  are  inspired  with  the  generous  enthusiasm 
of  humanity  which  is  the  most  Christly  outcome  of  a 
religious  life. 

Thus  the  glory  and  power  of  Scholasticism  faticd 
into  the  warmth  and  brightness  of  Mysticism  ;  the  high 
and  noble  aspirations  of  the  greatest  Schoolmen  were 
gathered  up  by  a  new  race  who  sought  to  divest  religion 
of  its  logical  bands  and  integuments,  and  who  became 
the  exponents  of  a  noble  if  not  a  perfect  system  of 
spiritual  truth.  The  W(jrk  which  Scholasticism  had 
accomplished  was  not  destroyed.  It  had  built  a  gor- 
geous Christian  temple,  the  noble  proportions  and  stately 
grandeur  of  which  arc  the  womler  and  admiration  of  all 
succeeding  generations,  but  the  sacrifice  and  the  incense, 
the  fervent  piaise  and  the  spiritual  glow,  had  given 
place  to  the  jangle  of  disputation  and  the  formality  of 
Pharisaism  ;  then  a  new  order  of  men  cam^-,  who  souglit 
to  kmdle  a  brighter  flame  on  the  altar,  to  diflusc  a  more 


THE  MOST  CIIRISTTAN  DOCTOR.  309 

fragrant  incense,  to  present  a  richer  sacrifice  of  the 
spirit,  and  to  rise  upon  the  wings  of  a  more  venturous 
devotion.  They  by  the  violence  of  their  movement 
were  thrown  into  an  extreme  position,  which  resulted  in 
errors  and  extjavaganccs,  as  much  to  bo  deprecated  as 
those  from  which  thoy  revolted  ,  but  the  reaction  from 
Scholastic  rigidity  was  on  the  whole  healthy,  atid 
served  to  prepare  the  way  lor  the  grand  spiritual  move- 
ment of  Luther  and  the  Reformers  of  the  fifteenth 
century. 

NOTK  A. 

"God  dwells  iri  the  heart  pure  and  free  from  every  image.  Then 
first,  when  wc  withdraw  into  the  uinpUcitiU  ol  our  heart,  do  we 
behold  the  immeasurable  glory  of  Ciod,  and  our  intellect  is  as  clear 
fiom  all  considerations  of  distinction  and  rtgura'ive  apprehensions, 
as  thouijh  we  had  never  .seen  or  heard  of  such  things.  Then  the 
riches  of  God  are  open  to  us.  Our  spirit  beromes  dc^ireless,  as 
though  there  were  nothing  on  ea.vth  01  m  heaven  of  which  we  stood 
in  need-  Tben  wc  .ire  aloiie  with  God,  God  and  we--  nothing  else. 
Then  we  rise  above  all  multiplicity  and  distinction  into  the  sunple 
nakedness  of  our  essence,  and  in  it  become  conscious  of  the  infinite 
wisdom  of  the  Divine  Essence,  whose  inexhaustible  depth  1  arc  as 
a  vast  waste,  into  which  no  corporeal  and  no  sp'tritual  image  can 
intrude.  Our  created  is  absorbed  in  our  uncreated  life,  and  we  are 
as  it  were  transformed  into  God.  Lost  in  the  abyss  of  our  eternal 
blessedness,  we  perceive  no  distinction  between  ourselves  and  God 
As  soon  as  we  be^jin  to  reflect  and  to  consider  what  that  is  we  feel, 
we  become  aware  o(  such  distinction,  and  fall  back  to  the  level 
of  reason  "  -  Ruysbroek,  quoted  in  V.iughan's  "  Hours  with 
Mysticu,"  1.,  3^8. 


/ 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 
THE  LEADERS  OF  THE  SCHOOL  AND  THEIR  WORK. 


•'  Happy  are  they  who  have  a  lyre  in  their  heart  and  a  music  in  their 
mind,  which  their  anions  perform." 

"  Simple  and  sincere  mmds  are  never  more  than  half  mistaicen." 

"The  devout  are  the  practical  metaphysicians." 

"  To  reach  the  regions  of  ligJit  you  mast  pass  through  the  clouds.  Some 
stop  there  ;  others  know  how  to  go  beyond." 

•'  Professional- critics  caa  appreciate  neither  jough  diamonds  nor  bars  of 

old."  — JOUBfcRT. 


XVIII. 

THE  LEADERS  OF  THE  SCHOOL  A\D  THEIR  WORK. 

The  brief  notices  of  the  great  leaders  of  the  School 
given  in  previous  pages  will  have  been  some  prepara 
tion  for  forming  a  jud;.;ment  fairly  appreciative  of  them 
and  their  work.  It  will  not  be  supposed  that  with  their 
opportunities  and  their  surroundings  they  could  attain 
either  absolute  perfection  of  character  or  a  faultless 
style  of  work.  But  when  all  the  circumstances  of  their 
times  are  taken  into  account,  it  will  be  ionnd  that  there 
was  very  much,  both  in  them  and  in  their  labours  for 
the  Church,  to  command  the  admiration  and  to  merit 
the  gratitude  of  succeeding  ages. 

They  were  men  of  devout  habit,  and  of  stainless 
piety,  Theje  is  scarcely  any  line  of  men  in  all  history 
who  are  so  irreproachable  as  tlie  Schoolmen.  Scandal 
has  left  untouched  but  ie-w  of  the  leading  men  of  his- 
tory. Especially  in  the  Middle  Ages,  but  a  scanty 
number  were  able  to  pass  through  the  fiery  ordeal  of 
life  without  being  scarred  or  branded  by  some  sad  act 
or  habit  of  sin.  Charlemagne  and  all  kings,  with  but 
the  rare  exception  of  an  Alfred,  or  a  Saint  Louis  ; 
Popes  and- Cardinals  far  too  numerous  to  mention,  and 
too  hateful  to  recall  ;  statesmen  and  warriors  of  all  the 
civil iz(-d   nations  of  Europe, — all   were  swept   into  the 


3 1 4         GRKA T  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  A  GES. 

evil  habits  of  their  times,  and  indulged  in  such  forms  of 
vice  that  the  mind  can  only  tolerate  them  by  judging 
their  conduct,  not  by  the  eternal  and  immutable 
standard  of  Divine  righteousness,  but  by  the  imperfect 
and  changing  standard  acknowledged  by  the  public 
conscience  of  their  generations.  Even  the  clerical 
orders  which  arose  to  bear  witness  against  the  sur- 
rounding rapacity  and  licentiousness  were  unable  to 
preserve  themselves  unspotted,  and  gradually  suffered 
themselves  to  be  drawn  downwards  by  the  prevailing 
spirit  of  evil  until  the  half-developed  moral  sensibility 
of  Christendom  was  horrified  at  their  apostacy.  Not 
only  so,  the  great  thinkers  and  leaders  of  the  modern 
world  have  far  too  seldom  been  able  to  pass  the  trial  of 
human  temptation  without  reproach ;  the  great  founder 
of  French  Idealism  confesses  that  he  could  not  preserve 
his  chastity  absolutely  pure  ;  the  leader  of  the  Induc- 
tive Philosophy  is  only  rescued  from  being 

"  The  noblest,  greatest,  meanest  of  mankind  " 

by  the  plea  that  the  low  condition  of  public  morality  in 
his  day  excused  or  palliated  the  wrongs  he  committed 
in  the  course  of  his  public  functions  ;  the  greatest 
literary  name  in  Germany,  by  his  own  free  and 
unblushing  confessions  of  immorality,  is  found  to  be 
tarnished  with  the  saddest  shame.  And  whilst  these 
examples  are  numberless,  let  not  the  tribute  of  praise 
and  admiration  be  withheld  from  a  succession  of  men 
who  through  several  centuries  maintained  an  almost 
faultless  confession  of  morality,  and  who  deserve  con- 
secration in  the  estimation  of  the  religious  world  for 
the  rich  odour  of  their  piety.  Of  no  other  order  of 
!nen.  save  only  the  Apostles,  can  the  same  be  said.  Not 
of  the  Fathers  of  the  Church,  for  too  often  were  both 


THE  LEADERS  OF  THE  SCHOOL  A.VD   TffEIIi.   WORK.  315 

their  words  and  lives  marred  by  uncharity,  violence  of 
temper,  and  the  spirit  of  persecution  ;  not  of  kings  or 
emperors,  of  popes  or  bishops,  nay  not  even  of  the  line 
either  of  martyrs  or  reformers ;  not  any  of  these  passed 
the  ordeal  of  history,  and  "the  fierce  light  which  beats" 
upon  the  leaders  of  men,  and  have  come  forth  so 
morally  unscathed  as  the  Schoolmen.  Abelard  indeed 
sinned,  but,  like  the  royal  sinner  of  the  Old  Testament, 
he  manifested  a  royal  repentance,  and  sought  not  only 
to  obtain  the  forgiveness  of  God,  but  to  atone  in  every 
way  possible  for  him  to  the  object  of  his  sin.  But 
Anselm  was  as  conspicuous  for  his  holy  living  as  for 
his  brilliant  intellectual  genius.  Bernard  was  not  more 
anxious  to  extend  and  strengthen  the  outward  Ch'jrch 
of  the  Redeemer  than  he  was  to  have  his  whole  soul 
steeped  with  the  Divine  Influence.  Those  of  the 
Monks  of  St.  Victor  whose  names  are  preserved  on  the 
bead-roll  of  Scholasticism  shine  like  "  stars  apart," — 

"  Satellites  burning  in  a  lucid  ring," 

so  radiant  are  they  with  sweet  and  fervent  piety. 
Peter  the  Lomoard,  the  most  arid  and  uninteresting 
genius  of  the  line,  was  a  man  of  profoundly  religious 
spirit.  The.  great  abilities  both  of  Albertus  Magnus 
and  Alexander  Hales  were  consecrated  by  a  complete 
devotion  to  a  life  of  Divine  fellowship.  The  two 
names  best  known  and  most  revered,  those  of 
r>c»naventura  and  Aquinas,  are  richly  redolent  with  the 
fragrance  of  an  ardent  piety.  This  is  certainly  not  the 
general  feeling  about  Aquinas,  who  has  been  deseribed 
by  some  v/riters  as  thou-^h  the  spiritual  side  of  his 
nature  had  boon  sacrificed  to  the  merely  logical.  But 
of  few  men  arc  more  satisfactory  testi.Tionics  to  extra- 
ordinary   spirituality^  preserved.      When    he    preached, 


3i6         GREAT  SCHOOLMEN-  OF  TffE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

his  subject  was  chiefly  the  love  of  God  and  of  Christ, 
and  he  enlarged  upon  the  inspiring  theme  with  kindling 
earnestness  ;  when  he  engaged  in  the  service  of  the 
mass,  he  was  often  melted  to  tears  ;  in  all  his 
metaphysical  labours,  he  sought  to  baptize  his  thinking 
by  fervent  and  effectual  prayer  ;  and  when,  during  a 
time  of  religious  meditation,  he  fancied  that  the 
Saviour  addressed  him  and  said  :  "  Thou  hast  written 
well  of  me,  Thomas  ;  what  shall  be  thy  reward  ? "  the 
reply  was,  "  To  have  more  of  Thyself."  Thomas 
Aquinas  was  pure  intellect,  illuminated  with  Divine 
Love,  Bonaventura  adopted  for  his  motto  in  life, 
having  it  engraved  upon  his  study  wall,  the  words  of 
his  Divine  Master,  "  Learn  of  Me,  for  I  am  meek  and 
lowly  in  heart,"  and  in  no  act  of  his  life  does  he  seem 
to  have  done  other  than  follow  the  instruction.  Even 
his  misguided  worship  of  the  Virgin  was  a  manifesta- 
tion of  that  love  whicli,  with  better  gospel  teaching, 
would  have  been  offered  directly  to  Christ  The  later 
leaders  of  the  School,  Duns  Scotus,  William  of  Ockam, 
and  others,  also  bore  undeviating  testimony  against  the 
sins  of  their  generation,  and  embodied  a  noble  godliness 
in  their  lives;  and  if  Gerson  marred  his  splendid  piety 
by  his  persecution  of  John  Hugs,  it  was  rather  the 
fault  of  his  environment  which  prevented  either  him  or 
others  understanding  the  principles  of  religious  tolera- 
tion, or  of  liberty  of  conscience,  than  of  any  wavering 
from  the  standard  of  a  lofty  piety  on  his  part. 

Thus  these  men  were  not  only  of  blameless  repute, 
but  unsurpassed  holiness  of  life. 

They  were  also  men  of  the  world.  Not  that  they 
had  the  worldly  spirit.  If  they  had  possessed  the 
pride  and  ambition  which  were  vulgarly  common  in 
their   day,  they   might  have  been   popes,    kings,    and 


run  LEADERS  OF  THE  SCUVOL  AND  II'IIF  W'^KK.   :.t  i 

political  leaders  amongst  men,  but  from  all  such  low 
desires  they  were  marvellously  free.  And  still  ih^jy 
\v^re  busily  engaged  in  the  public  affairs  t-f  the  rations 
of  Christendom.  They  did  not  seek  prominrnt  posi- 
tions, but  they  could  not  be  hid,  and  such  posiLions 
were  thrust  upon  them,  and  v/hen  so  thrust,  they  did 
not  refuse  the  responsibility,  but  carried  into  the  minute 
details  of  their  functions  the  same  untiring  energy  and 
conscientiousness  which  they  manifested  in  their  beloved 
intellectual  pursuits.  They  are  often  referred  to  as 
l>eing  gloonjy  "lonks,  of  recluse  habits,  shut  up  in  the 
cell  or  the  quidrangle,  dreaming  and  weaving  iiiCtui.!\}- 
sical  cobwebs  down  the  l«ng  years  of  their  lives.  But 
of  which  of  the  Schoolmen  could  this  be  affirmed  ? 
They  were  familiar  with  royal  courts  and  cabinets,  tiiey 
filled  high  ecclesiastical  offices,  they  accomplished  such 
an  amcjunt  of  labour  in  various  departments  of  adminij  - 
tration,  as  testified  of  enormous  capacity  for  work  and 
endurance.  Anselm  gave  himself  to  his  work  a.s  Abbot 
of  Bee  with  such  zeal  that  it  became  the  brightest 
ce.itre  of  religion  and  learning  in  Europe  ;  then,  with 
not  so-  much  paidence  as  courage,  he  fought  a  keen 
battle  against  William  Rufus,  in  behalf  of  the  right  of 
the  Church  to  govern  supremely  within  its  own  pro- 
vince ;  and  in  the  duties  of  his  olfice  as  Primate  of 
Kngland,  he  showed  extraordinary  skill  and  industry. 
It  was  the  same  with  I'cter  Lombard,  when  Bishop  of 
Paris;  with  Albcrtus  Magnus  when  Bish(^p  of  Ratisbon, 
and  Grand  iVtastcr  of  the  Pope's  palacf  ;  uilh 
Bonaventura  as  the  Cardinal  Bishop  of  Albano,  and 
the  Chief  Director  of  the  immense  Order  of  h^iancisi  ;in 
Monks  ;  with  Aquinas  as  called  by  the  Pope  to  render 
aid  in  the  urgent  business  of  the  Papacy,  and  by  St. 
Louis  to  afford  gracious  moral  guidance  in  the  intrica- 


3i8        GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

cies  of  Statecraft.  In  addition  to  which  national  and 
public  duties,  nearly  all  the  Schoolmen  were  busily 
engaged  with  crowds  of  students  who  swarmed  around 
them.  They  were  the  centres  of  the  intellectual  life  of 
Europe,  and  filled  the  leading  universities  with  their 
ardent  and  devoted  followers. 

Thus  they  were  little  likely  to  be  absorbed  by  the 
idola  specus,  or  to  become  curious  specimens  of  intellec- 
tual fungi  ;  they  were,  with  an  occasional  exception,  so 
circumstanced  as  tO  be  in  the  very  midst  of  the  most 
influential  factors  of  the  day,  fully  abreast  with  the 
national  and  continental  movements  which  agitated 
those  restless  and  formative  times  ;  drawn  into  fellow- 
ship and  counsel  with  the  great  makers  of  history  ; 
themselves  deserving  to  rank  highly  in  the  grand, 
catalogue  of  such  leaders  of  men  ;  called  to  assume 
great  responsibilities,  in  council,  in  controversies  on 
questions  of  Imperial  magnitude,  and  having  the  high- 
est honours  of  the  Church  and  the  Universities  crowded 
upon  them. 

They  were  men  of  keen  metaphysical  acumen  and 
of  profound  erudition,  which  they  employed  upon  the 
highest  and  noblest  themes.  They  were  not  weary, 
solemn  trifiers,  expending  the  force  of  the  most  per- 
fectly logical  intellects  in  Europe  in  disputing  concern- 
ing vain  and  sill}'  trivialities.  It  is  surprising  to  find, 
in  a  book  of  recent  date,  of  great  intelligence  and 
discrimination,  and  generally  of  appreciative  spirit, 
which  deals  with  the  growth  of  Christian  Religion  down 
the  eighteen  centuries  of  its  history,  that  the  only 
instance  given  of  the  pursuits  and  labours  of  the 
Schoolmen  is  contained  in  this  sentence  : — 

"  One  feels  naturally  startled  to  behotd  a  company  of  the 
most  learned  men  of  their  day,  meeting  together  in  the  pre- 


THE  LEADERS  OF  THE  SCHOOL  AND  THEIR  WORK,  jiy 

sence  of  a  crowded  assembly,  gravely  and  dcliberalely  to 
discuss  the  questioQ  whether  a  hundred  thousand  angels  could 
dance  at  one  moment  upon  the  point  of  a  needk,  or,  whether 
two  celestial  intelligences  could  at  one  time  occupy  the  same 
amount  of  space,  or,  whether  a  celestial  being  could  be  present 
on  one  spot  of  earth  at  the  same  moment,  when  he  was  present 
in  another  comer  of  the  world."  ^ 

Judging  from  the  fair  and  charitable  temper  of  this 
book,  no  one  would  be  more  ready  to  admit  than  its 
author  that  the  Schoolmen  were  mainly  occupied  by 
the  consideration  of  questions  of  great  importance,  but 
to  leave  out  all  reference  to  the  vital  topics  they 
handled,  and  to  present  the  merely  trivial  to  readers, 
many  of  whom  may  be  totally  unacquainted  with  the 
subject,  is,  to  say  the  least,  misleading.  A  summary 
of  the  subjects  dealt  with  by  Thomas  Aquinas,  and 
other  leading  Schoolmen,  his  already  been  given,  by 
which  the  reader  of  this  work  will  be  able  to  form  a 
clear  idea  of  the  subjects  mainly  studied  and  discoursed 
upon  by  these  great  m^n.  It  is. true  they  indulged  in 
petty  disputes  such  as  those  just  referred  to,  but  these 
were  as  the  occasional  froth  or  bubbles  on  tht*  surface 
of  a  reservoir  of  profound  thought  and  learning. 

This  will  appear  the  more  clearly  if  it  be  considered 
how  largely  they  anticipated  the  views  and  positions 
held  by  modern  theologians  and  philosophers.  Anselm 
framed  what  is  known  as  the  Ontological  argument  for 
the  Existence  of  God.  This  was  in  the  eleventh  cen- 
tury. Six  hundred  years  afterwards  it  was  announced 
independently  by  Descartes  ;  it  was  defended  by  all 
the  Cartesians  of  the  Continent  ;  by  Sir  I,  Newton 
and  Dr.  S.  Clarke  in  England.  In  the  present  century 
a  philosopher   so  profound   as   Hegel  has   largely  built 

*  Matheson,  "'  Growth  of  the  .Spirit  of  Christianity,"  ii.,  loo. 


320         GRKA  T  SCHOOI MC^  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

liis  whole  system  upon  it,  and  even  so  late  a  writer  as 
Dr.  Caird  has  placed  it  with  .'>trikiiig  clearness  before 
t!ie  present  generation. 

The  question  whether  Saving  Faith  has  its  origin  in 
the  intellect  or  in  the  heart  was  arc^ued  by  many  of  the 
Schoolmen  from  Bernard  and  Abelard,  and  this  ques- 
tion was  also  vigorously  debated  by  Rev.  J.  Hervey, 
Rev.  R.  Sandeman,  and  others  in  the  last  centuiy. 

All  the  v.irious  questions  relating  to  the  doctrines  of 
predestination,  election  and  reprobatiqn,  foreknowledge 
and  contingency,  were  fought  out  in  the  Middle  Ages 
by  Pclcr  the  Lombard,  Thomas  Aquinas,  Duns  Scotus, 
i^nd  others,  and  they  were  also  subsequently  debated 
with  intense  interest  and  passion  by  the  Calvinists  and 
Arminlaws  of  later  centuries.  The  theory  which  finds 
the  results  of  man's  transgression  in  the  loss  of  certain 
suppo.-^ed  *'  chartered  blessings,"  as  advocated  recently 
by  Dr.  Payne  and  Rev.  J.  Frame,  was  also  advocated 
and  discussed  by  Alexander  Hales  and  Bonaventura. 
It  is  more  than  likely  that  Feiielon,  Jonathan  Edwards, 
and  others  drew  their  doctrine  of  disinterested  Jove 
from  Thomas  Aquinas,  who  wrote  upon  it  with  great 
clccirncss  and  force. 

In  the  department  of  Morals,  the  Schoolmen  cer- 
tainly achieved  great  results,  and  occupied  themselves 
maijjly  with  questions  of  great  human  interest.  Few 
of  the  subjects  di5:cussed  by  modern  Ethicists  were 
omitted  from  their  consideration.  They  failed  to  dis- 
tijuruish  with  .sufficient  clearness  between  the  Theory  of 
Moral  Sentiments  and  the  Criterion  of  Moral  Judg- 
ment, but  they  did  incalculable  service  by  setting  up 
a  lofty  standard  of  morality,  and  insisting  on  the 
immutable  obligations  of  the  Moral  Law.  On  this 
subject  Sir  James   Mackinto.sh  speaks  with  great  force. 


t/:e  leaders  or  the  school  axd  their  ivork'.  321 

After    speaking    of   their    treatment    of    Metaphysical 
subjects,  he  says  : — 

"  If  not  more  remarkable,  it  is  more  pertinent  to  our  pur- 
pose, that  the  Ethical  system  of  the  Schoolmen,  or  to  speak 
more  properly,  of  Aquinas,  as  the  Moral  Master  of  Christendom 
for  three  centuries,  was  in  its  practical  part  so  excellent  as 
to  leave  little  need  of  extensive  change,  with  the  inevitable 
exception  of  the  connection  of  his  religious  opinions  with  his 
precept  and  counsel.  His  rule  of  life  is  neither  lax  nor  im- 
practicable. His  grounds  of  duty  are  solely  laid  in  the  nature 
of  man,  and  in  the  well-being  of  society.  Such  an  intruder  as 
Subtilty  seldom  strays  into  his  moral  instructions.  With  a 
most  imperfect  knowledge  of  the  Peripatetic  writings,  he  came 
near  the. Great  Master  by  abstaining  in  practical  philosophy 
from  the  unsuitable  exercise  of  that  faculty  of  distinction  in 
which  he  would  probably  have  shown  that  he  was  little  inferior 
to  Aristotle,  if  he  had  been  equally  unrestrained.  .  .  .  The 
praises  bestowed  on  A<iuinas  by  every  one  of  the  few  great 
men  who  appear  to  have  examined  his  writings  since  the 
downfall  of  his  power,  among  whom  may  be  mentioned 
Erasmus,  Grotius,  and  Leibnitz,  are  chiefly,  though  not  solely, 
referable  to  his  ethical  works."  ^ 

In  briefly  referring  to  the  metaphysics  of  the  School- 
men, Sir  James  Mackintosh  also  says  : — 

"  We  ought  not  so  much  to  wonder  at  the  mistakes  of  men 
so  situated,  as  that  they,  without  the  restraints  of  the  general 
understanding,  and  with  the  clogs  of  system  and  establishment, 
should  in  so  many  instances  have  opened  questions  untouched 
by  the  more  fettered  Ancients,  and  veins  of  speculation  since 
mistakenly  supposed  to  have  been  first  explored  in  more 
modern  times.  Scarcely  any  metaphysical  controversy  agitated 
among  recent  philosophers  was  unknown  to  the  Sclioolmon, 
unless  we  except  that  which  relates  to  Liberty  and  Necessity, 
and  this  would  be  an  exception  of  doubtlul  propriety,  for  the 
disposition  to  it  is  clearly  discoverable  in  the  disputes  of  the 
Thomists  and  Scotibts-''  ^ 

The    great     divisional     line     which     separated     the 
1  Works.,  i.,  48.  "-  Ibid.,  i.,  46. 

2  1 


322         GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

Schoolmen  into  Realists  and  Nominalists  brought  them 
into  living  contact  with  the  great  essential  principles 
of  philosophy,  which  have  been  argued  by  the  greatest 
Metaphysicians  since  the  so-called  revival  of  learning. 
Whether  the  Mind  can  form  General  Ideas,  whether  the 
words  expressive  of  Ideas  are  not  simply  terms  which 
symbolise  a  cluster  of  particular  conceptions,  are  ques- 
tions which  materially  affect  the  nature  of  reasoning 
and  the  structure  of  language.  They  are  questions 
which  have  set  Hobbes  against  Descartes,  Locke 
against  Berkeley,  Reid  against  Hume,  Kant  against 
Condillac,  in  succeeding  centuries. 

All  metaphysicians  are  agreed  that  William  of 
Ockam,  by  denying  the  existence  of  the  species 
which  had  been  taught  by  Aristotle  as  the  direct 
objects  of  perception,  and  which  he  said  interposed 
between  the  object  and  subject,  took  the  same  ground 
which  has  conferred  immortality  upon  Reid  and  the 
Scotch  school  of  Philosophers.  There  is  also  remark- 
able similarity,  if  not  identity  of  view,  between  the 
theory  of  William  of  Ockam — that  substances  can  be 
known  only  through  their  attributes,  and  that  there- 
fore the  Substans  can  never  be  known  by  the  under- 
standing, but  only  by  faith — and  the  celebrated  doctrine 
of  Locke  upon  the  same  subject. 

Sir  W.  Hamilton  repeatedly  refers  to  their  keen  and 
discriminating  acumen  in  his  masterly  lectures  on 
Metaphysics.  In  treating  on  the  philosophical  applica- 
tion of  the  terms  Attention  and  Reflection,  he  says  : — 

"  From  the  Schoolmen  Locke  seems  to  have  adopted  the 
fundamental  principle  of  his  philosophy,  the  denvation  of  our 
knowledge  through  the  double  medium  of  sense  and  reflection, 
— at  least  some  of  them  had  in  terms  articulately  enounced  this 
principle  five  centuries  previous  to  the  English  philosopher,  and 


I 


77/A'  LEADERS  OF  THE  SCHOOL  AND  THEIR   WORK.    323 

enounced  it  also  in  a  manner  far  more  correct  than  was  done 
by  him."  ^ 

Also  in  his  discussion  as  to  whether  the  mind  can 
know  more  than  one  object  at  the  same  time,  he  says  :  — 

"  The  modern  philosophers  who  have  agitated  this  question 
are  not  aware  that  it  was  one  canvassed  likewise  in  the  schools 
of  the  Middle  Ages.  It  was  there  expressed  by  the  proposi- 
tion, Possitne  intellectus  nosier  piura  simul  intelligere.  Maintain- 
ing the  negative,  we  find,  St.  Thomas,  Cajetanus,  Ferrariensis, 
Capreolus,  Hervaeus,  Alexander  Alensis,  Albertus  Magnus, 
and  Durandus,  while  the  affirmative  was  asserted  by  Scotus, 
Ockam,  Gregorius  Arminiensis,  Lichetus,  Marsilius,  Biel,  and 
others."  2 

Again,  as  to  the  vital  distinction  in  psychology  as 
to  immediate  or  mediate  cognitions  previously  referred 
to,  Sir  William  has  the  following  apt  and  generous 
remarks : — 

"  Such  are  the  two  kinds  of  knowledge  which  it  is  necessary 
to  distinguish,  and  such  are  the  principal  contrasts  which  they 
present.  I  said  a  little  ago  that  this  distinction,  so  far  from 
being  signalised,  had  been  almost  abolished  by  philosophers. 
I  ought,  however,  to  have  excepted  certain  of  the  Schoolmen, 
by  whom  this  discrimination  was  not  only  taken  but  admirably 
appHed ;  and  though  I  did  not  originally  borrow  it  from  them, 
I  was  happy  to  find  that  what  I  had  thought  out  for  myself 
was  confirmed  by  the  authority  of  these  subtle  spirits."  ^ 

These  proofs  will  sufficiently  testify  that  these  great 
leaders  of  the  school  did  not  exhaust  their  strength 
and  learning  in  solemnly  discussing  themes  ridiculous 
in  their  littleness,  and  unrelated  to  human  sympatliies. 
Their  acuteness  and  profundity  were  both  exercised  in 
the  study  of  matters  of  enormous  importance  both  in 
theology  and  philosophy,  questions  which  absorbed 
the   magnificent   genius   of  Plato   or  Aristotle   in   the 

'  Lect.  Met,  i.,  235.        *  Lect.  Met.,  i.,  253.         '  Ibid.,\i.,  71. 


324        CREA  T  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

golden  age  of  Greek  Philosophy,  and  which  the  ex- 
alted talents  of  a  Kant,  a  Schelling,  a  Hegel,  and  a 
Hamilton  have  sought  to  grapple  with  in  more  recent 
times. 

It  is  also  remarkable  to  find  how  mighty  these  men 
were  in  the  Scriptures.  It  is  scarcely  possible  to  open 
the  Sumrna  of  Aquinas  at  any  page, — especially  those 
pages  which  treat  upon  the  Truths  peculiar  to  Christi- 
anity, without  finding  numerous  quotations  from  the 
Bible.  Taking  the  recent  edition  of  the  Summa,  in 
which  the  page  is  of  octavo  size,  and  casually  turning 
over  a  few  leaves,  counting  the  Scriptural  quotations 
each  contains,  it  will  be  found  that  on  an  average  each 
page  has  four  or  five  quotations  from  the  Divine 
Word  ;  and  if  the  large  ancient  folio  editions  be  used, 
frequently  it  will  be  found  that  fifteen  or  twenty 
passages  from  the  Bible  are  given  in  one  page.  So  also 
is  it  with  other  ol  the  great  Schoolmen. 

This  being  the  case,  it  was  not  possible  but  that 
great  clearness  should  characterise  their  treatment  of 
the  greatest  doctrines  of  the  Christian  faith.  Their 
theological  system  was  undoubtedly  vitiated  by  the 
accretions  of  pagan  and  Church  traditions  which  had 
gathered  round  the  truths  of  Christianity  in  the  pre- 
vious ages  ;  but  it  is  more  a  matter  for  wonder  that 
they  were  able  to  magnify  so  pre-eminently  the  founda- 
tion doctrines  of  the  faith,  than  that  they  should  have 
imbibed  a  measure  of  the  erroneous  teaching  which  had 
become  so  rank  a  growth  In  the  Church.  One  testi- 
mony on  this  point  will  be  read  with  satisfaction,  as 
being  borne  by  one  so  earnestly  Protestant  as  the 
great  historian  of  the  Reformation.     He  says  : — 

"For  their  exposition  of  the  'doctrine  of  salvation,'  let  us 
hear  Ansel ni,  the  most  influential  perhaps  of  all  the  Phiioso- 


THE  LEADERS  OF  THE  SCHOOL  AXD  THELK   Jl'OA'A'.   jj5 

pliical  Theologians,  Anselm  of  Canterbury,  the  second  Augustine 
of  the  Latin  Church,  who  knew  so  well  how  to  unite  the  re- 
searches of  philosophy  with  the  purity  of  the  Christian  faith. 
The  system  of  the  Redemption  is  developed  by  him  in  a 
manner  to  satisfy  at  once  the  understanding  and  the  heart. 
*  All  rational  creatures,'  says  he,  *  are  under  obligation  to 
submit  their  wills  to  the  will  of  the  great  Creator.  This  law 
the  first  man  transgressed,  and  thus  destroyed  the  harmony 
of  moral  order.  Now  the  law  of  eternal  righteousness  demands 
either  that  the  human  race  should  be  punished,  or  that  by 
some  satisfaction  proceeding  from  humanity,  that  order  should 
be  restored.  Without  this  it  would  be  altogether  inconsistent 
that  polluted  man  should  hold  communion  with  happy  spirits. 
But  man  could  not  of  himself  accomplish  this  satisfaction. 
As  human  nature  had  been  corrupted  by  one,  so  by  one  ought 
the  satisfaction  to  be  made. 

"  He  who  should  effect  this  must  be  some  being  above 
creatures.  He  must  be  God  Himself,  and  in  the  meantime  he 
must  be  human  also  to  the  end  that  satisfaction  may  be  applic- 
able to  humanity.  This  could  be  none  other  than  the  God- 
Man,  the  Mediator.  This  God-man  must  deliver  Himself  up 
to  death  voluntarily,  since  He  was  not  as  God  sUbject  to  death, 
and  He  must  exhibit  perfect  obedience  in  the  midst  of  the 
greatest  sorrows,  God  would  then  owe  to  Christ  a  recom- 
pense ;  but  Christ  as  God  could  need  no  recompense ;  He  could 
therefore  transfer  His  merits  to  the  world,  and  demand  for  His 
reward  the  salvation  of  believers.'  Thus  speaks  Anselm  in  his 
treatise,  '  Cur  Deus  Homo.' 

"  But  what  is  remarkable,  considering  the  common  opinion 
formed  of  these  men,  is,  that  they  insist  much  on  '  the  sanctify- 
ing influence  of  faith.'  'The  sufferings  of  Christ,'  says  Peter 
Lombard,  the  illustrious  master  of  the  'Sentences,'  deliver  us 
from  sin,  for  this  immense  sacrifice  of  Divine  love  inspires  us 
with  love  for  God,  and  this  love  works  our  sanctilication.' 
'  The  just  man  lives  by  faith,'  says  Robert  Pulley n  ;  '  is  ahead> 
sanctified  within,  and  exhibits  good  works  as  signs  of  his  faith 
and  sanctification  ;  faith  first  produces  righteousness  of  heart, 
and  righteousness  of  heart  produces  good  works.'  Alexander 
of  Hales,  called  the  Irrefragable  Doctor,  says  :  *  Man  in  his 
original  state  never  opposed  himself  to  God.  He  had  then 
need  only  oi formative  grace ;  but  now  that  there  is  something 
in  him  opposite  to  God,  man  needs  transformative  gxd.ccJ' 


326         GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

"  There  are  undoubtedly  some  differences  between  these 
great  men  ;  but  these  differences  only  show  how  firmly  esta- 
blished they  were  in  the  essential  truth  of  salvation.  Anselra, 
for  instance,  Thomas  Aquinas,  and  others,  supposed  that  the 
sacrifice  of  Christ  effected  the  salvation  of  man,  in  virtue  of  an 
intrinsic  value,  ex  insito  valorc,  while  many  other  Scholastics, 
and  Duns  Scotus  in  particular,  contended  that  it  was  owing 
solely  to  the  design  and  counsel  of  God.  This  was  the  differ- 
ence ;  while  all  proclaimed  that  man  was  a  lost  being  and 
saved  only  by  the  death  of  the  God-man  Jesus  Christ."  ^ 

Whilst  the  Schoolmen  laid  the  world  under   great 
obligations   for    their    investigations    into    the    various 
branches   of  human  thought,  they    conferred    upon  it 
another    great    service,    which     it    should    hasten     to 
acknowledge.     The    Schoolmen    were    the    first    great 
Reformers    in    Europe,    and    the    names    of    Erigena, 
Anselm,  Abelard,  Albertus  Magnus,  Aquinas,  Ockam, 
and  others  should  be  enrolled  as  amongst  the  first  who 
vindicated  the  right  of  the  human  reason  to  judge  for 
itself  on  matters  of  conscience  and  faith.     They  were 
leaders  on   the  side  of  a  wronged  humanity   in   that 
firm-set    struggle  which  raged  through  long  centuries 
against  a  gigantic  ecclesiastical  despotism,  which  aimed 
to  be  the  sole  arbiter  of  man's  faith,   which  sought  to 
reign  over  all  the  domains  of  intellectual  research,  and 
which    would    have    locked    up   even   the   treasures  of 
Nature    from   the  enquiring  mind.     There  was    never 
wanting  a  Schoolman  to  fight  on  the  side  of  liberty  of 
conscience    and    freedom    of   thought  until  the  grand 
result  was  obtained,  "  without  which  there  can  be  no 
philosophy,  and  no  true  enjoyment  of  life, —  The  right 
of  thinking  as  we  will  and  of  speaking  as  we  think!'  ^ 
They  lived  in  the  dawn  of  a  new  intellectual  bright- 

^  D'Aubigne, "  The  Voice  of  the  Church." 
*  Heeren,  "  Hist.  Researches,"  310. 


I 


THE  LEADERS  OF  THE  SCHOOL  AXJ)  THEIR   WORK.    327 

ness,  amidst  a  growing  mental  activity,  and  they  did 
much  to  welcome  the  light  and  to  promote  the  vigorous 
growth.  In  common  with  all  the  ardent  searchers 
after  knowledge  in  Europe,  they  felt  the  blessedness  of 
a  rush  of  new  life  within  them  ;  they  became  the  pro- 
pagators of  that  life  and  roused  its  pulsations  in  tens 
of  thousands  of  fresh,  warm,  youthful  souls,  who 
crowded  round  them  in  the  great  Universities  of  twenty 
cities  ;  and  although  they  wore  the  livery  of  the 
Church  of  Rome,  and  bowed  in  submission  before  its 
assumption  of  absolute  authority,  they  were  yet  impart- 
ing, often  unconsciously,  that  very  principle  already 
described,  which  in  its  full  development  produced  the 
Reformation  of  the  fifteenth  century,  and  which  must 
ever  be  the  broadstone  of  all  intellectual  and  religious 
freedom. 

It  is  true,  they  were  not  allowed  to  use  as  they 
chose  the  key  which  might  open  to  them  the  palace  of 
intellectual  enjoyment,  but  not  the  less  did  they  furnish 
the  key  to  others  ;  especially  Aquinas  did  great  service 
in  this  respect,  as  he  laboured  with  great  force  to  affirm 
the  principle  that  reason  equally  with  revelation  must 
be  regarded  as  a  guide  to  truth  and  wisdom,  and  whilst 
on  the  one  hand  giving  to  Revelation  the  greater 
weight  of  authority,  yet  on  the  other  allowing  to  reason 
the  right  to  enquire,  examine,  and  argue  in  regard  to 
Revelation.  This  position  is  largely  that  taken  by  the 
great  leaders  of  the  Protestant  movement,  and  but  for 
the  Schoolmen  they  could  never  have  so  boldly 
assumed  it  ;  the  preliminary  work  required  before 
Christendom  was  ripe  for  their  great  work  would 
have  been  left  undone,  and  the  victory  of  the  Reforma- 
tion deferred  for  some  ages. 

Dr.  Hampden,  whose  appointment  to  the  Bishopric  of 


328         GREA  T  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

Hereford  prevented  the  only  learned  Englishman  who 
seemed  to  have  a  living  interest  with  this  subject  from 
pursuing  his  researches  into  the  lives  and  labours  of 
the  Schoolmen,  has  clearly  pointed  out  this  fact  both 
in  his  Bampton  Lectures  and  his  clear  and  concise  life 
of  Thomas  Aquinas,  which  greatly  needs  to  be  re-issued 
in  an  accessible  form.     He  says  : — 

"  The  Scholastic  Philosophy,  indeed,  is  pre-eminently  a 
record  of"  the  struggle  which  has  subsisted  between  the  efforts 
of  human  reason,  on  the  one  hand,  to  assert  its  own  freedom 
and  independence ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  coercion 
exercised  over  it  by  the  civil  or  ecclesiastical  powers.  In  the 
general  survey  of  it,  it  will  be  observed  to  be  distingu'~hed  by 
two  very  opposite  characteristics;  an  unbounded  liberty  of 
discussion,  that  advances  with  unawed  step  into  the  most 
startling  curiosities  of  minute  enquiry ;  and  a  servile  addiction 
to  the  previous  determinations  and  sanctions  of  the  venerated 
doctors  of  the  Church.  Both  these  facts,  so  conspicuous  in 
the  matured  form  of  the  Scholastic  Theology,  are  the  surviving 
evidences  of  that  struggle  under  which  its  system  gradually 
rose  and  estabhshed  itself.  It  was  by  its  artful  combination  of 
these  two  ingredients  of  the  human  judgment,  the  positiveness 
of  dogmatism,  and  the  waywardness  of  private  reason,  that  its 
empire  was  decided."  ^ 

A  German  historian  of  Philosophy,  of  great  sobriety 
and  clearness  of  judgment,  has  also  borne  recent 
testimony  to  this  fact,  in  the  following  admirable 
verdict  : — 

"Although  completely  in  the  service  of  the  Church, 
Scholasticism  originated  in  a  scientific  interest,  and  awoke 
consequently  the  spirit  of  free  enquiry  and  a  love  of  know- 
ledge. It  converted  objects  of  faith  into  objects  of  thought ; 
raised  men  from  the  sphere  of  unconditional  belief  into  the 
sphere  of  doubt,  of  search,  of  understanding  ;  and  even  when 
it  sought  to  establish  by  argument  the  authority  of  foith,  it  was 
really  establishing,  contrary  to  its  own  knowledge  and  v.'ill,  the 

^Bampton  Lect.,  14. 


t 


THE  LEADERS  Of  THE  SCHOOL  AXD  7L1EIR  WORK.    329 

authority  of  reason  :  it  brought  thus  another  principle  into  the 
world,  different  from  that  of  the  ancient  Church,  the  princi{)le 
of  intellect,  the  self-consciousness  of  reason  ;  or  at  least  it  pre- 
pared the  way  for  the  triumph  of  this  principle.  The  very 
defects  of  the  Scholastics,  their  many  absurd  questions,  their 
useless  and  arbitrary  distinctions,  tlieir  curiosities  and  subiiliies, 
must  be  attributed  to  a  rational  principle,  to  the  spirit  of 
enquiry,  the  longing  for  light,  which,  oppressed  by  the  authority 
of  the  Church,  was  able  to  express  itself  only  so  and  not  other- 
wise." 1 

The  following-  extract  from  the  learned  Bishop 
already  quoted  is  so  appropriate  as  almost  to  demand 
admission  here  : — 

"  The  marks  of  the  origin  of  the  Scholastic  Philosophy 
accompany  it  throughout  in  its  development.  As  it  arose  in 
the  struggles  of  Reason  against  an  imperious  authority,  so 
Reason  is  throughout  the  principle  with  which  it  is  concerned, 
and  which  alone  it  endeavours  to  satisfy.  It  had  not  for  its 
object  to  win  men  to  the  truth  :  it  sought  only  to  justify  and 
secure  an  obedience  to  which  tlie  unwilling  intellect  was  con- 
strained. Its  whole  tendency  was  accordingly  to  magnify 
Reason  against  the  principle  of  mere  authority.  And  on  this 
account  (though  the  assertion  may  seem  strange)  the  School- 
men must  undoubtedly  be  reckoned  amongst  the  precursors  of 
the  Refonnation,  both  of  religion  and  philosophy.  By  the 
temerity  of  their  speculations,  they  inured  the  minds  of  men  to 
think  boldly ;  and  they  raised  doubts  and  difficulties  which 
sustained  the  incjuisitive  spirit  until  at  least  a  better  day  should 
dawn  upon  its  eftbrts.  Unconscious  they  were  themselves  of 
the  benefit  which  was  slowly  and  painfully  resulting  from  their 
abortive  endeavours.  But  what  they  were  in  themselves  was 
merely  accidental,  and  passed  away  with  them.  The  spirit 
which  they  had  nurtured  survived  beyond  them  to  fight  against 
the  system  within  which  it  had  grown  up  :  as  the  system  itself 
had  fought  against  the  arbitrary  authority  of  the  Church,  with- 
in whose  bosom  it  had  been  cherished.  Thus  we  find  some  of 
the  early  Schoolmen  strenuous  opponents  of  the  usurpations 
of  Rome  ;    as    Robert  Grosstete,  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  in   the 

'  Schwegler,  "  Hist,  of  Phil,"  147. 


33©         GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

thirteenth  century,  and  Ockam  in  the  fourteenth.  A  reaction 
indeed  took  place,  by  which  the  conclusions  of  the  Scholastic 
Theologians  were  expressly  affirmed  in  the  decrees  of  the 
Church  of  Rome;  and  invested  with  that  perpetuity  which 
the  dogmatist  of  that  communion  claims  for  its  authoritative 
declarations.  This  curious  effect  consequently  has  followed : 
that  the  same  writers  Hve  as  authorities  in  Theological  specula- 
tion to  the  Roman  Church,  who  as  advocates  of  Reason  against 
the  Church  system  have  raised  up  its  most  formidable  anta- 
gonists both  in  Religion  and  in  Philosophy."  ^ 

To  the  same  effect  may  be  again  quoted  the  testi- 
mony of  the  venerated  and  learned  historian  of  the 
Reformation  ;  the  extract  is  lengthy,  but  cannot  well 
be  abbreviated  : — 

"  The  general  character  of  the  Scholastic  form,  then,  is  the 
Spirit  of  the  Schools,  we  may  say,  of  the  University  or 
OF  Science.  To  apply  philosophy  to  Christianity,  to  reduce 
Christian  doctrines  to  systems;  to  show  their  connections, 
their  internal  proofs,  and  to  measure  them  not  only  by  the 
heart,  but  by  the  understanding ;  such  is  the  tendency  of  the 
Scholastic  form  of  Religion,  so  that  if  the  first  era  of  the 
Church  may  be  called  the  lorm  of  Life,  and  the  second  that  of 
Doctrines,  the  third  is  that  of  system.  There  is  yet  life,  there 
are  yet  doctrines ;  but  that  which  prevails  is  the  systematic. 
It  was  then  that  each  Doctor  published  his  system,  his  Summa 
Theologies,  It  was  the  age  advanced  of  the  Church,  which 
naturally  succeeded  to  its  youth  and  manhood.  It  was  the  age 
which  loves  to  arrange  what  it  had  before  collected.  It  meditates ; 
it  has  little  of  impulse,  but  more  of  reflection.  There  were  indeed 
men  of  great  force  in  this  middle  era ;  but  the  prevailing  dis- 
position was  to  reflection  and  system.  Historical  studies  there 
were  yet  none ;  the  exegetical  were  no  more  as  esteemed,  and 
yet  the  human  mind  was  awakening  with  great  force  all  over 
Europe.  It  needed  a  guide  to  direct  it,  and  this  guide  was 
found  in  Dialectic  Philosophy;  and  as  Theology  was  the 
science  of  the  age,  the  human  mind  adventured  upon  this  field 
under  the  auspices  of  their  new  leader.     This  tendency  of  the 

•  Hampden,  "Aquinas'  Encyc.  Met.,"  xi.,  814. 


TNF.  LEADERS  OF  THE  SCHOOL  AND  THEIR  WORK.  331 

Scholastic  might  lead  to  rationalism,  to  infidelity;  but  the  good 
doctors  of  the  age  opposed  to  these  the  holy  truths  of  Theo- 
logy. '  The  Christian,'  says  Anselm,  the  Father  of  Scholastic 
Theology,  '  should  come  to  understanding  through  faith,  and 
not  to  faith  through  understanding.  I  seek  not  to  compre- 
hend in  order  to  believe,  I  believe  that  I  may  comprehend. 
And  I  believe,  even  because  if  I  did  not  believe  1  should  not 
comprehend.'  Immediately  Ab^lard  and  his  school  avail 
themselves  of  the  Scholastic  principle,  and  become  the  advo- 
cates of  free  examination.  They  wish  first  to  comprehend  and 
then  to  believe.  '  Faith,'  said  they,  '  established  by  examina- 
tion is  much  more  solid.  It  is  necessary  to  meet  the  enemies 
of  the  Gospel  on  their  own  ground  ;  if  we  are  not  to  discuss 
we  must  believe  everything,  the  false  as  well  as  the  true."^ 


So  also  Neander,  after  a  chapter  pointing  out  in  a 
most  deeply  interesting  manner  how  the  great  School- 
men successively  vindicated  the  right  of  the  human 
reason  to  be  considered  one  great  factor  of  religious 
opinion,  says  :  "  The  Schoolmen  must  undoubtedly  be 
reckoned  among  the  precursors  of  the  Reformation, 
both  of  religion  and  philosophy."  * 

Even  a  writer  so  little  disposed  to  consider  sympa- 
thetically theological  writers  as  Draper,  has  accorded  to 
the  Schoolmen  credit  for  having  done  this  much  for 
Christendom.  Speaking  of  the  revival  of  learning  in 
the  Middle  Ages  he  says  : — 

"  Philosophy  emerged  not  in  the  Grecian  classical  vesture  in 
which  she  had  disappeared  at  Alexandria,  but  in  the  grotesque 
garb  of  the  cowled  and  mortified  monk.  She  timidly  came 
back  as  Scholasticism,  persuading  men  to  consider,  by  the  light 
of  their  own  reason,  that  dogma  which  seemed  to  put  common 
sense  at  defiance — transubstantiation.  Scarcely  were  her 
whispers  heard  in  the  ecclesiastical  ranks  when  a  mutiny 
against  authority  arose,  and  since  it  was  necessary  to  combat 

'  D'Aubigne,  "  Voice  of  the  Church." 
*  "  Church  Hist.,"  vi.,  440. 


332         GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

that  mutiny  with  its  own  weapons,  the  Church  was  compelled 
to  give  her  countenance  to  Scholastic  Theology."^ 

Coleridge  repeatedly  acknowledged  the  great  service 
which  the  Schoolmen  did  in  the  cause  of  freedom  of 
thought.  On  one  occasion  he  said  : — "  All  the  great 
English  Schoolmen,  Scotus,  Erigena,  Duns  Scotus, 
Ockam,  and  others,  those  morning  stars  of  the  Re- 
formation, were  heart  and  soul  opposed  to  Rome,  and 
maintained  the  Papacy  to  be  Antichrist/"" 

The  whole  case  for  the  Schoolmen  under  this  head 
is  well  put  by  a  living  writer,  who  has  done  both  great 
and  good  service  as  an  historian  of  the  Church  : — 

"Scholasticism  opened  the  way  for  modern  research  and 
speculation.  It  awakened  the  human  mind  from  its  torpor, 
sharpened  its  faculties,  and  excited  it  to  action.  The  School- 
men were  among  the  heralds  and  precursors  of  the  revival  of 
knowledge.  Their  antique  garb  is  not  agreeable  to  our  modem 
taste ;  the  functions  of  their  office  as  harbingers  and  pioneers 
have  been  long  since  suspended  by  the  arrival  of  that  know- 
ledge, for  which  they  prepared ;  but  their  antiquated  forms 
should  still  excite  veneration,  and  the  remembrance  of  past 
good  service  should  still  awaken  gratitude,"^ 

It  would  not  be  altogether  an  unprofitable  exercise 
to  enter  largely  upon  the  question  why  the  Schoolmen 
should  have  been  condemned  with  such  great  severity 
and  relegated  into  a  humiliating  position  for  centuries. 
The  causes  are  various,  but  a  few  remarks  on  them  are 
only  required  at  present.  The  tremendous  struggle 
with  the  political  power,  and  the  theological  system  of 
the  Papacy,  and  the  Titanic  forces  brought  into  stem 
battle  at  the  Reformation,  altogether  unfitted  the  mind 

•  Draper,  "  Iritell.  Dev.  ot  Europe,"  ii.,  3. 

==  "  1  able  Talk,"  240. 

'  Stoughton,  "  Ages  of  Christ,"  364. 


'JHE  LEADEkS  OF  THE  SCHOOL  AXD  TIJETR  WORK.    333 

of  Europe  fc)r  allowing  to  the  Schoolmen  their  due 
jiosition  of  honour  or  their  full  meed  of  praise.  Then, 
the  inferiority  of  the  later  Schoolmen,  their  degeneracy 
in  earnestness  and  devoutness,  their  growing  disposition 
to  neglect  the  discussion  of  grea,t  questions  of  philo- 
sophy or  theology,  and  to  indulge  in  vain  wranglings 
over  trifling  and  unprofitable  points,  their  position  as 
adherents  and  servants  of  the  Papacy — all  conspired  to 
lead  the  Reform.ers  to  assume  an  attitude  of  decided 
opposition  against  the  very  order  of  men  who  had  done 
so  much  to  prepare  the  way  for  their  advent,  and  to 
ho^rd  up  material  and  weapons  for  their  use.  The 
later  Schoolmen  in  their  labours  reproduced  and  ex- 
aggerated the  defects  of  their  great  leaders,  and  minified 
their  excellences  ;  their  methods  of  reasoning  became 
more  formal,  the  jargon  of  their  style  more  barbarous, 
and  the  passion  of  their  controversies  more  fierce,  so 
that  Scholasticism  had  become,  or  was  fast  becoming,  a 
hindrance  and  stumbling-block  in  the  path  of  truth. 
Therefore,  when  the  providential  hour  had  arrived 
when  the  mind  of  Christendom  must  take  a  huge  stride 
forward,  wh^n  the  Christian  consciousness  required  to 
be  brought  into  acquaintance  with  a  higher  order  of 
things,  politically,  intellectually,  and  ecclesiastically,  an 
order  so  advanced  above  the  old  state  of  things  as  to 
absorb  the  attention,  command  the  energy,  inspire  the 
developed  capacity  of  that  consciousness,  in  order  that 
the  due  advance  and  full  measure  of  possible  progress 
might  be  attained,  the  Scholasticism  which  had  become 
effete  and  obstructive  must  with  a  strong  and  firm 
hand  be  swept  away.  Necessarily  Protestant  Christen- 
dom, thus  aroused,  quickened,  and  developed,  would 
require  prolonged  and  leisurely  opportunity  to  realise 
its  position,  to  adjust   itself  to  its  new  conditions,  to 


334        GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

conserve  its  new  treasure  and  become  accustomed  to 
its  novel  duties  and  relations.  And  not  till  this  had 
been  done  could  it  turn  back  to  the  past,  and  with 
philosophic  calmness  and  appreciative  wisdom  survey 
and  adjudicate  upon  all  the  circumstances  and  factors 
of  the  greatest  revolution  of  time.  Then  only  could 
the  services  and  characters  of  predecessors  be  fairly 
weighed  and  accurately  estimated.  It  may  well  be 
supposed  that  long  centuries  must  be  required  to  inter- 
vene before  such  an  attitude  of  observation  could  be 
obtained,  and  such  a  spirit  of  judicial  quietness  and 
wisdom  could  be  experienced.  That  time  may  properly 
be  supposed  to  be  approaching,  and  the  words  of  the 
half-inspired  Coleridge  upon  this  subject  may  be 
deemed  to  be  prophetic,  when  the  intense  interest  ex- 
cited in  the  Scholastics  in  Germany  and  France  is  con- 
sidered, and  also  when  the  growing  interest  felt  in 
them  by  English  students  is  observed.     He  says: — 

"It  is  not  impossible  that  the  high  value  attached  of  late 
years  to  the  dates  and  margins  of  our  old  folios  and  quartos 
may  be  transferred  to  their  contents.  Even  now  there  exists 
in  the  minds  of  reading  men  the  conviction  that  not  only 
Plato  and  Aristotle,  but  even  Scotus,  Erigena,  and  the  School- 
men from  Peter  Lombard  to  Duns  Scotus,  are  not  such  mere 
blockheads  as  they  pass  for  with  those  who  have  never  read  a  line 
of  their  writings.  What  the  results  may  be  should  this  ripen 
into  conviction  I  can  but  guess."  ^ 

One  more  extract  from  the  same  gifted  genius  may 
fitly  lead  to  the  close  of  this  chapter  : — 

"  It  was  the  Schoolmen  who  made  the  languages  of  Europe 
what  they  now  are.  We  laugh  at  the  quiddities  of  these 
writers  now,  but  in  truth  these  quiddities  are  just  the  parts  of 
their  language  that  we  have  rejected,  whilst  we  never  think  of 
the  mass  we  have  adopted,  and  have  in  daily  use."^ 

» "  Statesman's  Manual,"  xxxvii.  ' "  Table  Talk,"  58. 


THE  LEADERS  OF  THE  SCHOOL  AND  THEIR  WORK.  335 

Let  it  be  remembered  that  it  is  in  the  nature  of 
earthly  institutions  to  work  themselves  out,  and  with 
more  or  less  precipitancy  to  become  disorganised. 
They  may  have  achieved  great  and  permanent  results, 
fulfilled  important  functions,  and  made  signal  contribu- 
tions to  human  progress  and  happiness.  They  have 
thus  fulfilled  the  mission  given  to  them  by  Divine 
Providence,  and  having  exhausted  the  vital  force  which 
inspired  them  to  accomplish  the  purpose  of  their  exist- 
ence, they  are  either  destroyed  at  once  by  some  fresh 
and  vigorous  agent,  or  they  languish  gradually  into 
death  through  the  lack  of  vitality  at  the  centre  of  being. 
It  was  thus  in  the  case  of  the  Roman  Empire,  which, 
having  fulfilled  a  great  and  generally  beneficent  mis- 
sion in  the  world,  lost  its  inward  life,  and  preserving 
only  the  external  form  of  Imperialism,  was  struck  to 
atoms  by  the  hammer,  of  the  Huns  and  Vandals,  but 
only  for  a  new  and  better  world  to  emerge  from  the 
elements  which  remained  from  the  wreck  of  tlie  former 
system,  and  which  gave  to  the  world  in  the  course  of 
time  a  Christian  instead  of  a  Pagan  civilization. 

This  is  the  beneficent  law  of  human  life,  without 
which  progress  would  be  impossible.  It  may  be  that 
the  old  institutions,  and  the  agents  employed  in  them, 
did  not  accomplish  all  that  those,  trained  by  more 
advanced  masters,  inspired  by  higher  influences  and 
living  under  happier  conditions,  deem  to  have  been 
desirable  or  possible,  but  let  blame  be  withheld  until 
the  circumstances  and  the  opportunities  of  those  institu- 
tions or  agents  are  duly  weighed,  and  at  the  least  let 
them  have  credit  for  the  help  they  afforded  and  the 
impulse  they  gave  towards  better  things.  Thus  let  the 
Schoolmen  be  estimated.  They  did  not  succeed  in 
obtaining  for  the  world  the  full  blessing  of  liberty  of 


336         GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

conscience,  or  freedom  of  thought  and  speech,  or  a 
perfect  system  of  spiritual  truth,  or  independence  of  an 
ecclesiastical  despotism,  but  they  were  a  powerful  force 
in  preparing  for  the  battle  which  lay  in  the  future  ; 
they  sowed  the  seeds  of  political,  moral,  metaphysical, 
and  religious  truth  ;  they  kept  the  intellect  of  Christen- 
dom in  healthful  agitation  by  the  depth  and  keenness 
of  their  controversies  ;  and  they  succeeded  in  evoking 
a  love  of  wisdom  and  a  spirit  of  enquiry  which  could 
not  and  would  not  be  restrained.  Then  their  work 
was  done,  their  weapons  became  rusty  and  worn  out  ; 
they  themselves  lost  the  martial  energy  of  earlier  days, 
the  garrulousness  of  old  age  began  to  characterise  them, 
the  forward  glance  of  youth  changed  into  the  backward 
lingering  gaze  of  second  childhood,  and  they  were  left 
behind  by  new  generations  who,  without  due  acknow- 
ledgment of  the  services,  or  tender  gratitude  for  the. 
sacrifices  of  their  predecessors,  swept  into  the  full  tide 
of  battle  and  were  borne  on  to  a  magnificent  and 
enduring  triumph.  Meantime,  those  who  had  done  so 
much  to  make  the  triumph  possible  were  left  to  neglect 
and  contumely  until  in  the  far  distant  future  the  morn- 
ing should  dawn  when  their  services  should  have 
recognition,  and  their  reputations  a  bright  resurrection. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 
CONSIDERATION  OF  OBJECTIONS. 


22 


"  O  DKAo  !  ye  shall  no  longei-  cling  to  us 
Wiih  rigid  hands  of  dessicating  praise, 
And  drag  us  backward  by  the  garments  thus. 
To  stand  and  laud  you  in  long  drawn  virelays  ; 
We  will  not  henceforth  be  oblivious 
Of  our  own  lives  because  ye  lived  before, 
Nor  of  our  acts  because  ye  acted  well. 
We  thank  you  that  ye  first  unlatched  the  door, 
But  will  not  make  it  inaccessible 
By  thankings  on  the  threshold  any  more. 
We  hurry  onwards  to  extinguish  hell 
With  our  fresh  souls,  our  younger  hope,  and  God's 
Maturity  of  purpose.     Soon  shall  we 
Die  also ;  and  that  then  our  periods 
Of  life  may  round  themselves  to  memory, 
As  smoothly  as  on  our  graves  the  burial  sods. 
We  now  must  look  to  it  to  excel  as  ye, 
And  bear  our  age  as  far  unlimited, 
By  the  last  mind  mark  ;  so  to  be  invoked 
By  further  generations  as  their  hallowed  dead." 

Mks.  Browning 


XIX. 
CONSIDERA  TION  OF  OBJECTIONS. 

The  Schoolmen  have  been  subjected  to  much  censure 
and  obloquy  during  the  three  last  centuries.  Com- 
plaints of  various  kinds  have  been  urged  against  them, 
and  many  objections  have  been  raised  to  the  utility  of 
their  work.  It  may  reasonably  be  expected  that  in  a 
work  .such  as  this  some  notice  will  be  taken  of  such 
remarks. 

It  may  clear  the  way  to  a  brief  consideration  of 
these  charges  or  objections,  if  some  of  the  special 
circumstances  of  the  Schoolmen  are  borne  in  mind. 
They,  like  all  others,  when  they  came  into  the  world 
found  their  environment  prepared  for  them.  They 
were  nursed  and  trained  under  the  over-shadowing 
influence  of  the  great  poHtico-ecclesiastical  system 
which  called  itself  the  Christian  Church,  Under  its 
shadow,  and  by  its  influence,  they  were  moulded  and 
educated.  They  never  had  the  opportunity  of  ex- 
periencing a  different  discipline  or  coming  within  the 
range  of  other  forces.  The  monasteries  were  the 
depositories  and  centres  of  intellectual  life  for  centuries, 
and  when  the  Schools  established  by  Charlemagne 
expanded  into  Universities,  the  teachers  and  lecturers 
were  mainly  ecclesiastics,  trained  in  the  convents   and 


340         CREA  T  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

abbeys  of  the  Church.  So  that  the  Schoolmen  were 
closed  round  with  certain  influences,  and,  by  no  act  of 
their  own,  were  thrown  upon  them  for  all  their  know- 
ledge and  intellectual  drill.  Not  only  was  there  no 
better  set  of  influences,  there  was  no  other.  The 
question  to  be  now  considered  is :  did  they  do  the 
best  possible  to  them  in  view  of  their  possibilities,  or 
are  they  to  be  counted  as  unfaithful  stewards  ? 

It  is  scarcely  just  for  those  who  live  in  a  period 
distinguished  for  its  perfect  freedom  of  thought,  its 
extreme  licence  of  speculation,  and  for  its  triumphs  of 
discovery  in  science,  to  look  with  blame  and  condemna- 
tion on  those  wJio  lived  in  times  when  the  iron  grip  of 
Ecclesiastical  Authority  was  laid  on  all  effort  of  pro- 
gressive enquiry ;  when  Gottschalk  and  Berengarius, 
Erigena  and  Ab^lard,  Roger  Bacon  and  Galileo,  the 
theologian,  the  philosopher,  and  the  scientist,  were 
alike  laid  under  proscription,  and  haunted  by  the  spirit 
of  persecution.  It  is  not  for  those  who  have  in  pos- 
session the  grand  results  of  the  labours  and  sufferings 
of  Apostles,  Church  Fathers,  Martyrs,  Schoolmen, 
Reformers,  and  Philosophers,  to  reproach  their  noble 
ancestry  for  not  having  achieved  more  than  was  possi- 
ble to  them.  This  is  not  the  spirit  of  humility  or  of 
gratitude,  but  rather  the  temper  of  pretenders,  who,  had 
they  been  placed  under  the  restraints,  or  lived  in  the 
comparative  darkness  of  bygone  days,  would  never 
have  accomplished  a  tithe  of  the  noble  work  which 
was  accomplished  by  the  unwearied  zeal  and  exalted 
faith  of  the  men  whom  they  condemn.  No  fair  estimate 
can  be  formed  of  any  man,  nor  of  his  work,  unless  the 
opportunities  afforded  him  and  the  conditions  which 
closed  around  him  are  duly  weighed  and  impartially 
considered. 


CONSIDERATION  OF  OBJECTIONS.  341 

It  is  a  charge,  often  repeated,  against  the  Schoolmen 
that  they  bound  the  living  realities  of  religion  in  the 
withes  of  a  hard,  severe,  unyielding  Logical  System. 
In  considering  this  subject,  it  will  be  necessary  to 
enquire  whether  a  Logical  Method  is  required  by,  or  is 
advantageous  when  applied  to.  Natural  or  Revealed 
Religion. 

Let  it  be  remembered  that  man  is  a  reasoning  being. 
The  disposition  or  tendency  to  analyse,  to  classify, 
and  to  theorise  concerning  the  knowledge  he  obtains 
by  experience  or  observation,  is  a  radical  and  inalien- 
able part  of  his  constitution.  All  departments  of 
knowledge  taken  possession  of  by  the  enquirer,  are 
therefore  in  time  reduced  to  system.  It  is  so  with 
astronomy,  botany,  geology,  medicine,  chemistry,  metal- 
lurgy, and  all  the  sciences ;  it  is  so  with  ontology, 
psychology,  ethics,  political  economy,  and  all  the 
philosophies.  Give  men  a  multitude  of  facts  in  any 
domain  of  knowledge,  and  they  will  begin  to  analyse 
their  nature  and  qualities,  to  arrange  them  in  classes, 
to  frame  theories  and  draw  conclusions  concerning  them 
all,  tending  to  Systematisation  and  Simplicity.  This 
is  so  universally  the  habit  of  civilised  man  that  the 
logical  faculty  must  be  admitted  to  be  an  essential  of 
his  nature.  Thus  have  arisen  the  various  Sciences, 
and  thus  also  the  great  Philosophies  have  shaped  them- 
selves. It  is  impossible,  with  this  inevitable  tendency, 
that  man  should  form  systems  of  Natural  Science,  or 
of  Metaphysical  Philosophy,  and  should  omit  from 
analysis  or  classification  the  great  facts  and  truths  of 
religion.  To  object,  if  indeed  any  one  would  be  bold 
enough  to  do  so,  to  all  such  systematising  processes, 
would  be  to  object  to  the  constitution  of  man,  and  to 
impugn  the  wisdom  of  Him  who  conceived  and  created 


J4J  GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES.  . 

ir.  To  object  to  one  realm  of  knowledge  being  sub- 
jected to  logical  system,  and  permit  the  application  of 
such  method  to  others,  is  to  give  up  the  guidance  of 
reason,  and  to  become  the  victim  of  wayward  and 
arbitraiy  decisions,  determined  by  passion  or  selfish- 
ness. If  a  logical  method  be  allowed  in  relation  to 
scientific  facts  or  philosophical  principles,  it  cannot 
with  fairness  or  reason  be  denied  in  relation  to  religion, 
and  if  it  be  of  advantage  in  respect  to  the  former,  it 
cannot  be  of  disadvantage  in  regard  to  the  latter. 

It  is  quite  true  that  logical  methods  have  been 
carried  to  an  extreme,  that  the  spirit  of  Religion  has 
been  thereby  injured,  and  that  Systems  of  Theology 
have  been  established  in  undue  authority  over  the 
consciences  of  men.  But  these  results  form  no  true 
objection  to  the  principle  of  Systematic  Theology ; 
they  have  not  been  the  fruit  of  a  true  use  of  Logic,  but 
the  abuse  of  it,  and  the  complaint  made  against  Systems 
of  Theology  may  also  be  urged  against  Systems 
both  of  Philosophy  and  Science.  Many  evils  have 
arisen  in  both  these  latter  mentioned  domains  of 
knowledge,  by  men  attaching  more  weight  to  their  own 
theories  than  to  the  lessons  of  experience  or  the 
phenomena  of  Nature,  so  that  this  fact  is  but  an  illus- 
tration of  an  old  truth,  often  taught  and  often  forgotten, 
that  any  tendency  of  man's  nature,  unduly  cultivated, 
may  prove  to  him  a  temptation  and  a  snare.  And  it 
is  also  true  that  nothing  more  inimical  to  man's 
welfare  can  be  attempted  than  to  exalt  theories  or 
systems  of  knowledge  over  the  reason  and  conscience 
of  man,  making  them  the  standards  of  ultimate  appeal, 
and  giving  them  the  authority  of  infallible  oracles. 

All  historj^  and  experience  testifies  to  the  tendency 
there    is    in    man    to    thus  methodise    his  knowledge. 


CONSIDERATION  OF  OBJECTIONS.  343 

There  could  be,  therefore,  no  exception  hi  the  matter 
of  Reh'gion,  and  in  the  history  of  Christianit)'  this 
disposition  has  repeatedly  manifested  itself.  When 
the  infant  Church  had  with  such  dauntless  and  burn- 
ing earnestness  delivered  its  message  that  the  whole 
Empire  of  Rome  was  being  moved  by  the  quickening 
spirit  of  the  Gospel,  there  speedily  became  visible  the 
beginnings  of  a  Christian  philosophy  by  Origen,  which 
was  fostered  and  developed  by  Athanasius,  Augustine, 
and  others,  until  John  Damascenus,  with  more  articulate 
purpose  and  formal  method,  embodied  in  a  system 
the  results  of  Christian  speculation  and  thought  in  the 
early  Church.  So  also  when  the  Latin  form  of  Chris- 
tianity had  penetrated  and  permeated  the  civilised 
nations  of  Europe,  when  an  intellectual  activity  was 
springing  up,  when  learning  was  decaying  in  the  East 
and  vigorously  seeking  to  extend  in  the  West,  it  might 
have  been  expected  that  the  logical  faculty  of  the 
Latin  and  Teutonic  mind  would  exercise  itself  on  the 
Christian  verities  as  that  of  the  Greek  and  African 
mind  had  done,  and  the  result  was  Scholasticism.  It 
arose  out  of  the  combined  necessities  of  man's  nature 
and  the  exigencies  of  the  times.  The  human  mind 
seeks  to  express  and  justify  its  faith  to  itself  in 
philosophic  and  logical  form,  because  God  has  so 
willed  it,  in  bestowing  upon  man  the  faculty  of  logic, 
and  the  natural  desire  to  analyse  and  systematise  his 
thought.  If  in  some,  the  sentimental  or  practical 
element  preponderates  largely  or  almost  entirely  over 
the  logical,  then  let  them  not  judge  dogmatically  or 
harshly  concerning  those  who  are  seeking  to  promote 
the  glory  of  God  and  the  progress  of  the  world  in  a 
manner  which  they  may  not  attempt,  and  indeed  may 
not  be  fitted  fairly  to  estimate. 


344        GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

The  question  immediately  for  consideration  is  clear 
and  simple.  The  Bible  contains  all  the  elements  for  a 
full,  clear,  Systematic  Theology.  Those  elements  are 
scattered  throughout  the  various  Books  and  Letters 
of  Scripture  much  as  the  phenomena  of  Natural 
Science  are  scattered  throughout  Nature.  Is  it  right 
towards  God,  or  helpful  for  himself,  that  man  should 
arrange  these  various  elements,  and  place  them  in 
relation  to  each  other  ;  to  so  classify  the  facts,  topics, 
and  doctrines  of  Revelation,  as  that  he  may  have 
present  to  his  mind  an  orderly  array  of  the  articles  of 
his  faith,  and  the  subjects  of  Divine  teaching  ?  The 
answer  is  found  in  the  facts  before  given  as  to  the 
nature  of  the  human  mind  ;  the  justification  of  forming 
such  System  of  Theology  is  found  in  the  same  argu- 
ments which  would  justify  the  formation  of  Systems 
of  Philosophy  or  of  Science, — they  are  a  necessity  of 
human  nature,  the  material  for  them  has  been  abun- 
dantly provided  by  an  Infallible  and  Omnipotent 
Providence,  and  great  practical  benefits  have  flowed 
out  from  them. 

The  Schoolmen  only  strove  to  express  in  cbar  syste- 
matic form  what  was  the  belief  of  the  Christian  con- 
sciousness of  their  times.  A  dogma  has  been  said  to 
be  a  formal  statement  of  some  known  truth.  Herzog 
has  striven  to  show  that  dogma  is  representative  and 
authoritative  only  as  expressing  the  general  conscious- 
ness of  the  Christian  community;  but  besides  this  it 
must  also  have  an  element  of  definition  or  intellectual 
elaboration.  This  is  essential,  in  order  to  constitute 
dogma  a  science  of  Christian  belief.  Dogma  is  not 
the  original  form  of  Divine  Truth  ;  timt  is  not  given  to 
us  in  fixed  propositions  and  systematic  airangementj 
not    in    logical   sequence    or   methodical  array ;   it  is 


CONSIDERATION  OF  OBJECTIONS.  345 

given  in  various  guises  and  by  many  instruments, 
"  at  sundry  times  and  in  divers  manners,"  varied  by 
widely- contrasting  surroundings,  drawn  out  by  many 
occasions  and  uttered  by  many  voices.  The  great 
Truths  which  compose  Christian  Theology  were  given 
to  man  by  voices,  Divine,  angelic,  and  human  ;  they 
came  in  form  of  prophecy  and  precept,  simple  hymn 
and  ravishing  chorus,  strophe  and  antistrophe,  command 
and  promise ;  they  were  unfolded  by  epiphanies  of 
noble  lives,  of  miraculous  works,  of  gleaming  symbols, 
of  elaborate  rituals  ;  they  were  most  signally  and  con- 
spicuously revealed  by  the  Incarnation  of  the  Logos, 
and  the  pouring  forth  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  But  though 
the  media  were  legion,  the  Truth  was  one,  having  a 
million  sides, numberless  relations,  "unsearchable  riches," 
but  revealing  all  with  the  free  abandon  with  which 
Nature  discloses  her  charms  to  the  eye  of  the  student 
This  great  Revelation  of  Divine  Truth  man  can  only 
understand,  can  only  express  to  himself  or  to  others,  by 
comparison  of  part  with  part ;  by  tracing  the  connec- 
tion or  the  bearing  of  one  doctrine  with  or  upon 
another  ;  by  marking  the  interdependence  of  each  upon 
each,  and  thus,  by  reverent  and  careful  examination, 
comparison,  classification,  he  is  able  to  grasp  more 
firmly,  and  apprehend  more  clearly,  the  truth  of  God  ; 
is  prepared  to  realize  more  of  its  grandeur  and  express 
it  in  approximate  adequateness  for  the  benefit  of  the 
world.  Not  that  the  living  Words  of  God,  which  "  are 
spirit  and  are  life,"  can  be  poured  into  human  types 
or  moulds  of  human  arrangement,  so  as  to  express 
the  plenitude  of  Truth ;  no  creed  of  Church  or 
Council  can  interpret  perfectly  the  infinite  fulness  of 
Divine  Doctrine  ;  nor  can  any  system  of  Theology 
exhaust  the  richness  of  Eternal  Truth,  but  the  Symbols 


54  =»         GREA  T  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  .ICES. 

of  Churches  and  Councils,  and  the  Systems  of  Theology, 
have  done  a  great  work  in  the  past ;  they  have  been 
enormous  helps  in  realizing  to  Christians  what  an 
inheritance  of  spiritual  treasure  they  have  in  the 
Gospel,  in  preserving  Churches  and  believers  from  being 
drawn  away  by  dangerous  errors  in  enabling  Christian 
propagandists  to  express  more  definitely  and  logically 
the  glad  tidings  they  had  to  communicate  to  civilised 
citizens  or  barbarous  tribes,  and  in  crystallising  for  the 
guidance  of  future  ages  the  measure  of  Christian  Truth 
already  mastered  and  digested  by  the  Church.  It  is 
true  that  the  wine  of  the  Divine  Kingdom  has  some- 
times burst  the  bottles  of  logical  method  in  which  the 
theologians  of  former  ages  have  sought  to  preserve  it  ; 
and  it  is  equally  true  that  it  can  never  be  so  formalised 
or  scientifically  defined  as  to  command  universal  assent. 
All  dogmatic  systems  are  fallible  and  imperfect,  because 
they  are  human  ;  hence  they  should  never  be  forced  on 
the  acceptance  of  any  by  the  sword  of  persecution  or 
the  arm  of  power.  Neither  should  those  who  frame 
such  systems  take  such  delight  in  them  as  to  prefer  the 
logical  method  into  which  they  have  sought  to  pour 
the  Truth,  to  the  Truth  itself.  They  should  re- 
member that  the  method  simply  exists  to  giwQ  the 
truth  clearer  expression  and  convenient  form.  That 
men  should  express  definitely  what  they  believe  and 
profess  is  a  necessity,  and  especially  must  this  be  so 
when  they  associate  to  enjoy  common  spiritual  fellow- 
ship or  agree  to  propagate  on  an  extensive  scale  what 
in  their  souls  they  believe  to  be  the  truth  of  God. 

There  should  be  some  consistency  maintained  when 
objections  to  systematic  forms  of  theology  are  raised. 
The  objection  ought  to  be  extended,  also,  to  systems  of 
science,   or  ethics,  or  mental  philosophy.     But,  is  any 


CONS/DERAT/O.V  OF  OBJECnOXS.  347 

one  prepared  to  affirm  that  this  could  be  done  with 
safety  or  advantage  to  the  race  ?  The  great  systcmatisers 
of  thought  have  been  amongst  the  world's  best  benefac- 
tors. None  have  done  so  much  to  promote  intellectual 
activity  and  growth  as  Aristotle,  Proclus,  Avcrroes, 
Aquinas,  Descartes,  Locke,  Kant,  Hcgcl,  Plamilton, 
Herbert  Spencer,  and  many  others  of  kindred  spirit. 
None  have  laboured  more  faithfully  or  earnestly  than 
these  to  diffuse  knowledge,  and  to  place  knowledge  in 
such  orderly  and  succinct  method  before  the  world  as 
to  render  its  attainment  by  multitudes  more  easy.  It 
is  the  same  with  the  great  theological  thinkers  of  the 
past.  If  the  great  names  of  Origen,  Augustine, 
Damascenus,  Anselm,  Aquinas,  Duns,  Calvin,  Turretin, 
Bellarmine,  Wcssel,  Limborch,  with  many  of  the 
present  day  who  have  signalised  themselves  by  giving 
to  their  generation  religious  truth  in  logical  form  and 
method,  were  utterly  extinguished,  and  all  trace  of 
their  work  obliterated,  imagination  could  not  conceive 
the  infinite  inferiority  of  the  position  which  would  be 
occupied  by  either  Christianity  or  philosophy. 

It  is  undeniable  that  the  great  truths  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion  are  ever  being  more  fully  realized  and 
more  intelligently  held  by  the  body  of  the  Church,  and 
this  is  made  more  possible  by  the  great  thinkers,  who 
sum  up  in  succeeding  generations  the  latest  results  of 
religious  discussion,  who  methodise  what  increased 
measure  of  truth  the  developing  consciousness  of  the 
Christian  community  has  obtained,  and  who  thus  make 
it  possible  for  the  next  generation  to  expand  in  greater 
spiritual  and  intellectual  power  of  apprehending  the 
infinite  truth.  One  more  service  is  done  by  those 
who  seek  to  present  in  systematic  form  tlie  great  truths 
of  natural  or  revealed  religion.    By  condensing,  arranging, 


34 S        GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES.       * 

and  methodically  framing  those  truths,  they  express  for 
the  multitude  of  believers  the  degree  of  truth  realized 
or  apprehended  by  the  most  advanced  spirits  of  the 
age,  and  this  becomes  an  exalted  standard  to  which 
the  more  uneducated  or  undeveloped  are  called  to 
attain.  Thus  is  progress  made  and  growth  nurtured 
from  age  to  age. 

These  considerations  will  aid  in  forming  a  fair  judg- 
ment concerning  the  efforts  of  the  Schoolmen  to  frame 
perfect  systems  of  Religious  Truth. 

Allowing  that  the  formation  of  such  systems  be 
advantageous  to  a  certain  degree,  it  is  objected  to  the 
Schoolmen  that  they  employed  so  slavishly  the  logical 
method  of  Aristotle. 

It  may  be  replied  that  there  was  no  other  method 
for  them  to  use.  Aristotle  reigned  as  the  intellectual 
Master  of  Europe.  Aviccenna  and  Averroes  raised 
him  into  being  the  idol  of  the  Moorish  Universities 
both  in  the  East  and  the  West,  and  from  these  he 
passed  into  being  the  almost  universally  beloved 
Philosopher  of  Christian  thinkers.  What  other  could 
the  Schoolmen  do  ?  They  were  bom,  by  the  will  of 
Providence,  into  a  set  of  circumstances  which  prevented 
and  surrounded  them.  One  of  those  circumstances 
was  the  fact  that  Aristotle  reigned  over  the  learned 
world  in  unrivalled  supremacy.  "  He  was  the  parent 
of  science  properly  so-called,  the  master  of  criticism, 
and  the  founder  of  logic." ^  So  that  the  Schoolmen 
had  no  choice  but  to  employ  the  one  logical  method  in 
existence,  or  to  frame  another  and  a  better  for  them- 
selves. There  was  no  other  mould  in  existence  into 
which  they  could  pour  the  living  Truth  as  it  revealed 
itself  to  their  understanding,  and  by  which  it  could 
»  Coleridge,  "  Table  Talk,"  loi. 


CONSIDERATION  OF  OBJECTIONS.  349 

receive  a  "  local  habitation  and  a  name."  To  say  that 
they  should  have  invented  or  adopted  another  form, 
less  rigid  or  elaborate,  is  to  blame  Providence  for  not 
having  given  to  them  a  different  mental  constitution, 
and  a  more  penetrating  insight  into  abstract  principles 
and  things.  It  is  to  blame  them  for  not  creating  when 
the  material  was  not  at  hand,  for  not  inventing  in  a 
day  what  could  only  be  the  outgrowth  of  ages  of 
intellectual  discussion  and  activity.  If  therefore  they 
were  by  the  inward  call  of  duty,  or  by  the  peculiar 
tendencies  of  their  minds,  to  cast  the  great  realities  and 
principles  of  Revelation  into  logical  form,  they  could 
do  no  other  than  use  the  method  which  then  reigned 
in  Christendom,  and  beside  which  there  was  no  other. 

It  has  been  objected  that  the  Schoolmen  pursued 
the  habit  of  moulding  the  Truth  into  scientific  form 
to  an  excessive  and  even  ridiculous  extreme.  This 
charge  must  be  admitted  to  have  some  force  and  pro- 
priety- But  the  blame  will  be  greatly  mitigated  if  the 
circumstances  they  were  placed  in  are  again  considered. 
By  the  great  Ecclesiastical  Power  which  reigned  in  the 
name  of  God  over  Christendom,  they  were  only  per- 
mitted to  enquire  and  reason  within  a  certain  range 
The  Church  stretched  its  dominion  over  all  regions  of 
knowledge,  and  sternly  forbade,  under  awful  penalties, 
both  in  time  and  eternity,  any  venturing  beyond  certain 
well-defined  boundaries.  Students  and  enquirers  might 
reason  as  they  listed  within  a  circle,  but  they  must  not 
step  beyond  it,  under  pain  of  suffering  or  death.  They 
might  proclaim  and  defend  what  the  Church  sanctioned, 
and  the  utmost  reach  of  tlieir  learning,  ingenuity,  and 
genius  was  employed  for  this  purpose,  but  they  must 
not  indulge  in  any  speculation  or  entertain  any  opinion 
that  it  condemned  or  was  uncertain  of.     In  judging  of 


35o         GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  ACES. 

the  work  of  the  Schoolmen,  these  two  circumstance?; 
must  be  considered.  They  were  endowed  with  as  keen 
iind  discriminating  metaphysical  faculties  as  the  world 
has  known,  and  they  were  confined  within  a  limited 
range,  and  hampered  with  unnatural  corditions  in  the 
exercise  of  their  marvellous  gifts.  Thus  their  enormous 
intellectual  power  and  erudition  were  exercised  with 
almost  preternatural  intensity  within  the  region  per- 
mitted to  them.  Men  of  commanding  genius,  were 
often  forced  to  comfort  their  chafed  spirits  by  repeating 
the  lessons  of  former  generations,  or  to  satisfy  their 
raging  desire  for  active  and  congenial  intellectual  exer- 
cise by  exhausting  the  final  possibilities  of  their 
position.  They  did  all  that  was  allowed  them  to  do, 
they  trod  the  extreine  verge  of  the  region  permitted 
them  ;  Erigena,  Abdlard,  Peter  Lombard,  Duns, 
Ockam,  and  Bacon  even  ventured  beyond  the  limit  into 
the  Debateable  Land,  but  they  v/ere  quickly  thrust  back 
by  the  threat  of  vengeance  or  the  sword  of  persecution. 
What  could  they  do  ?  They  could  not  be  idle,  they 
must  give  some  expression  to  the  grand  and  royal 
intellectual  gifts  they  had  received  from  a  bountiful 
Father,  and  so  they  used  and  re-used  the  opportunity 
which  was  permitted  them,  and  in  dealing  with  the 
doctrines  of  Natural  and  Revealed  Religion  they  ex- 
hausted the  method  possible  to  them,  they  divided 
and  subdivided,  they  analysed  and  syiithesised,  they 
classified  and  combined  their  knowledge,  they  sought 
to  cast  Divine  Truth  into  an  infinite  series  of  perfect 
syllogisms,  until  the  marvellous  edifice  of  Scholastic 
Theology  was  crowned  by  the  Opus  Magnmn  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  the  Siimma  of  Aquinas. 

The  measure  of  blame  which  this  charge  is  meant  to 
convey   belongs   far  more   to   the    Spiritual  despotism, 


CONSIDER  A  770  iV  OF  OBJEC  T/O.WS.  3<;  i 

which  prevented  3.  free  and  natural  exercise  of  their 
^reat  f^ifts,  than  to  the  men  who  under  such  unfavour- 
able conditions  soujjlit  to  discharge  the  work  of  lite 
with  painstaking  and  conscientious  fidelity,  and  who 
were  able,  notwithstanding  their  linnitations,  to  sow  the 
seeds  of  religious  freedom  for  a  future  blessed  harvest. 
Another  objection  repeatedly,  and  often  without  due 
care,  urged  against  the  Schoolmen  is,  that  they  invented 
and  used  a  harsh,  crabbed,  incomprehensible  jargon, 
whereby  to  explain  or  illustrate  their  systems.  It 
must  be  borne  in  mind  that  none  can  treat  thoroughly 
of  any  science  or  philosophy  without  emplo)-ing  a 
terminolog}''  adapted  to  the  subject  in  hand.  Lan- 
guage has  been  described  as  "  fossil  poetry,"  but  it  may 
more  fitly  be  said  to  be  "  fossilised  thought,"  and  the 
thought  must  prescribe  the  form  of  the  fossil.  If  the 
thought  is  permitted  to  become  extravagant,  if  it 
descend  to  analyses,  and  distinctions  which  are  merely 
fanciful,  the  language  will  become  abstract,  or  vain,  or 
finally  incomprehensible.  It  may  be  admitted  that 
this  was  partly  so  with  Duns,  and  with  some  of  the 
later  and  lesser  Schoolmen  ;  but  on  the  other  hand,  it  is 
true  that  there  are  few  terms  employed  by  the  leaders 
of  the  School  which  have  not  passed  into  the  accepted 
philosophical  and  theological  nomenclature  of  Europe. 
Such  terms  as,  the  "  guiddity,"  "  haccceity,"  "  perseity," 
"  supposit,"  "  ubication,"  and  a  few  others,  may  not 
have  passed  into  modern  phraseology,  and  sound  for- 
biddingly harsh  to  the  ears  of  modern  students.  But  it 
would  be  fairer  to  the  Schoolmen  to  think  of  the 
multitudes  of  terms  used  by  them,  which  have  been 
accepted  by  subsequent  thinkers,  and  which  are  now  in 
ordinary  use,  than  to  recall  a  few  which  have  been 
rejected  and  fallen  into  disuse.     The  Schoolmen  really 


352        GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

settled  the  philosophical  and  theological  terminology  of 
Christendom  ;  they  formed  thus  a  highway  for  the 
interchange  of  thought  for  the  world  and  for  all  genera- 
tions, by  which  high  and  thorough  discussion  of  all  the 
great  questions  touching  Essences,  Existences,  and 
Destinies  are  possible,  without  each  thinker  being 
called  upon  to  elaborate  a  suitable  terminology  for 
himself 

Even  while  admitting  that  some  of  the  Schoolmen 
indulged  in  harsh  and  vain  jargon,  and  that  they  laid 
themselves  open  to  blame  thereby,  it  may  be  urged  in 
their  behalf  that  they  are  not  sinners  above  all  others 
in  this  respect.     They  are  quite  equalled,  if  not  sur- 
passed in  this  fault,  by  many  modern  writers  both  in 
science  and  philosophy,  who  indulge  in  a  terminology 
which  to  a  layman  seems  outlandish  indeed.     Few;  can 
write    more     fluent   or    pure    English   than    Professor 
Huxley,    when    treating  upon    those    sciences    to    the 
special  study  of  which   he   has  consecrated  so  many 
years  of  his  life.     Yet  in  the  course  of  about  tv.enty 
lines  of  one   of  his  treatises  we  read  of  "the   sacral 
axis,"    "  the    ilium,"    "  the   sacral    articulation,"    "  the 
acetabulum,"  "  the  pubis  and  the  ischium,"  "  the  obtur- 
ator foramen,"  "  the  obturator  axis,"  "  the  iliopectinal 
axis,"  "  the  ventri  rami  of  the  pubes,"  "  the  symphisis," 
"the  cotyloid  ramus,"  " the   metischial  process,"  "the 
homologues  of  the  rami,  of  the  ypsiloid,"  with  much 
more  of  the  same  kind.*     All  this  occurs  in  describing 
one  bone   in    the    structure  of  an   animal  called  the 
"  Ornithorhynchus."     In   another  treatise  by  the  same 
writer  such  terms  perpetually  occur  as    "blastomere," 
"  blastoderm,"     "  nodal    and     internodal,"    "  epiblast," 
"  hypoblast,"  and  "  mesoblast,"  "  apical  and  cambium," 
'  Article  "Biology,"  Enc.yc.  Brit.,  9th  Ed. 


CONSTDERATION  OF  OBJECTION'S.  353 

"  Utricle  and  epithelium,"  "gemation,"  "fission,"  "gamo- 
genesis,"  "  ogamogenesis,"  "  abiogenests,"  "  biogenesis," 
"  urodele,"  "  anurous,"  and  so  on  indefinitely.  From 
many  modern  works  on  Chemistry,  Physiology,  and 
Mental  Philosophy  terms  might  be  quoted  as  harsh 
and  abstract  as  these.  Surely  the  Schoolmen  are 
hardly  dealt  with  if  they  are  condemned  for  the  use  of 
a  harsh  aud  crabbed  Latinity,  if  these  modern  thinkers 
are  approved  and  applauded.  It  may  be  that  this 
style  is  a  necessity,  that  it  is  of  real  service  ;  but  if  so, 
may  it  not  be  fairly  concluded  that  the  terminology 
employed  by  the  Schoolmen  was  also  a  necessity,  and 
did  real  service  in  the  cause  of  humanity  in  the  past  ? 
It  may  also  be  that  as  the  Sciences  are  yet  only  in 
their  infancy,  when  they  attain  to  maturity  and  ripe- 
ness the  style  of  teachers  will  become  more  simple  and 
pure,  or,  the  educated  intellect  of  the  future  will  have 
become  familiarised  with  what  seems  now  strange  and 
dissonant  language,  and  may  even  be  discourteous 
enough  to  smile  at  some  terms  which  will  then  have 
fallen  into  disfavour  as  harsh,  crabbed,  and  jargonous. 
Without  claiming  for  the  Schoolmen  absolute  in- 
fallibility of  judgment,  or  perfection  of  work,  but  on 
the  other  hand  freely  admitting  many  defects  in  their 
style,  their  opinions,  and  their  method  of  labour,  it  is 
yet  to  be  claimed  for  them  that  with  unfavourable 
conditions  they  achieved  extraordinary  results,  and  it  is 
for  those  who  object  to  them,  sometimes  perhaps  with- 
out due  reflection,  to  show  how,  all  things  considered, 
they  could  have  done  better,  or  why,  minor  faults 
admitted,  they  should  not  have  conceded  and  grate- 
fully accorded  the  full  meed  of  praise  which  their 
indefatigable  and  faithful  labours  in  the  cause  of  the 
Church  and  the  world  deserve. 

23 


CHAPTER  XX. 
THE  RATIONALE  OF  SCHOLASTICISM. 


I 


"  It  is  evident  that  there  can  be  but  One  only  Original  Mind,  or  no 
more  than  one  Understanding  Being  Self- Existent,  all  other  minds  what- 
ever partaking  of  one  Original  Mind  ;  and  being  as  it  were  stamped  with 
the  Impression  or  Signature  of  one  and  the  same  Seal.  From  whence  it 
Cometh  to  pass,  that  all  minds  in  the  several  places  and  ages  of  the  world 
have  Ideas  or  Notions  of  things  exactly  alike,  and  Truths  indivisibly  the 
same.  Truths  are  not  multiplied  by  the  diversity  of  Min<ls  that  apprehend 
them  ;  because  they  are  all  but  Ectypal  Participalions  of  one  and  the  same 
Original  and  Archelypal  Mind  and  Truth.  As  the  same  face  may  be 
reflected  in  several  glasses,  and  the  image  of  the  same  sun  may  be  in  a 
thousand  eyes  at  once  beholding  it,  and  one  and  the  same  voice  may  be  in 
a  thousand  ears  listening  to  it  ;  so  when  innumerable  created  Minds  have 
the  same  Ideas  of  Things  and  understand  the  same  Truths,  it  is  but  One 
and  the  same  Eternal  Light  that  Ls  reflected  in  them  all,  the  Light  that 
lighteneth  ever}'  man  that  coraeth  into  the  world,  or  the  same  Voice  of  that 
One  Everlasting  Word  that  is  never  silent,  re-echoed  by  them." — Cupworth. 


XX. 

THE  RATIONALE  OF  SCHOLASTICISM. 

The  phenomenon  of  Scholasticism,  with  its  devotion  to 
the  subjects  of  philosophy  and  theology,  and  its  untir- 
ing application  to  them  of  the  Aristotelian  method,  is  a 
strange  growth  in  history,  which  it  is  not  altogether 
easy  to  account  for.  The  rationale  of  it  may  be  partly 
found  in  one  or  both  of  two  facts,  either  that  the 
Schoolmen  were  before  their  time,  or  that  the  ordinary 
and  primary  factors  of  public  feeling  and  sentiment 
had  failed  to  operate  in  their  due  time  and  order.  In 
the  building  up  of  a  great  intellectual  civilisation, 
philosophy  is  not  usually  the  eldest  bom.  Poetry  and 
Eloquence  generally  precede  either  Systems  of  Religion 
or  of  Philosophy.  Thus,  in  the  ancient  civilisation  of 
Greece,  Hesiod  and  Homer  preceded  Thales  and 
Anaxagoras  ;  Eschylus  and  Sophocles  preceded  Plato 
and  Aristotle.  In  the  Roman  civilisation,  Virgil  and 
the  Latin  poets  preceded  by  long  ages  Seneca  or 
Marcus  Aurelius.  In  the  history  of  England  Shake- 
speare and  Milton  preceded  Hobbes  and  Locke.  It 
was  quite  different  in  the  history  of  the  Christian 
civilisation  of  the  west  No  great  poet  arose  to  cast  a 
beam  of  glowing  light  upon  the  gloom  of  what  are 
called    the   Dark  Ages  ;   no  sweet  singer  had  aroused 


35 8        GREAT  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

popular  sentiment  or  awakened  the  public  mind  into 
kindling  ardour  by  the  rehearsal  of  noble  deeds,  or  by 
lofty  truths  being  linked  to  the  music  of  "harmonious 
strains.  Erigena  had  issued  his  " Divisione"  Anselm 
had  formulated  his  great  doctrines,  Abelard  had  loved, 
laboured,  and  suffered,  Peter  had  arranged  the  "  Sen- 
tences," Albertus  Magnus  had  aroused  a  continent  to 
profound  interest  in  science  and  philosophy,  Aquinas 
had  crowned  Scholasticism  by  his  marvellous  summinj?; 
up  of  the  results  of  a  thousand  years'  discussions  in 
religion  and  metaphysics,  before  Dante  awoke  the 
heart  of  Europe  by  his  sublime  " Divina  Commedia" 
or  Petrarch  had  charmed  the  nations  of  the  south  by 
his  alternate  strains  of  languishing  tenderness  and 
martial  fire. 

One  cause  of  this  may  be  found  in  the  fact,  that  iri 
the  tremendous  catastrophe  of  the  fall  of  Rome,  the 
great  philosophers  of  the  ancient  Avorld  were  able  to 
maintain  an  existence,  and  quickly  to  rise  to  a  position 
of  intellectual  ascendency.  It  was  not  so  with  the 
great  masters  of  other  branches  of  literature,  the  poets 
and  orators  of  the  old  world.  They  fell  headlong  into 
an  abyss  of  darkness,  from  which  they  were  not  rescued 
until  the  dawn  of  the  New  Learning  in  Christendom. 
The  great  philosophers  were  preserved  through  the 
New  Platonists  of  Alexandria,  through  the  instrumen- 
tality of  some  of  the  Christian  Fathers,  through  the 
agency  of  Porphyry  and  Boethius.  So  that  when  the 
vigorous  germs  of  a  new  civilisation  began  to  expand, 
and  to  throw  out  men  of  large  heart,  of  exalted  genius, 
of  marvellous  capacity  for  mental  conception  and 
labour,  such  men  as  make  epochs,  as  carry  the  world 
forward  in  the  arms  of  enlightenment,  and  mould  a 
nobler  future,  they  had  to  grow  up  without  the    free 


THE  RATIONALE  OF  SCHOLASTICISM.  359 

inspiring  and  ennobling  inlluences  which  an  impassioned 
national  poetry  or  a  glowing  oratory  can  sujjply. 
Therefore  they  were  thrown  for  their  inspiration  upon 
the  great  Greek  Metaphysicians,  and  the  noble  Fathers 
of  the  Christian  Church.  By  tlie  very  necessities  of 
their  position  they  werrj  cast  into  the  arena  of  meta- 
physics and  theology  ;  these  subjects  absorbed  their 
attention,  engaged  their  learning,  exercised  their 
acumen,  and  as  the  ages  rolled  on  they  built  up  the 
stupendous  fabric  of  tlic  Scholastic  system,  a  magnifi- 
cent and  niarvellous  structure  indeed,  in  which  all  may 
find  much  to  admire,  and  something  to  object  to. 
They  were  not  to  blame  for  their  position,  they  could 
not  create  material,  they  could  but  use  that  which  was 
ready  to  their  hands  ;  men  are  moulded  and  stamped 
by  the  conditions  which  surround  them,  and  can  only 
be  what  those  conditions  will  allow.*  For  a  man  to  be 
able  to  rise  above  them,  to  create  the  influences  which 
must  foster  him,  to  invent  a  new  and  independent  scene 
of  action  for  himself,  would  be  for  him  to  be  more  than 
a  man,  to  be  a  god. 

The  position  of  the  Schoolmen  will  appear  the  more 
difficult  and  peculiar  the  more  carefully  and  earnestly 
it  is  considered.  They  lived  in  a  }'oung  world,  which 
had  emerged  from  the  grave  of  an  old  world  which  had 
given  itself  up  to  vice  and  idleness,  and  which  had 
proved  but  too  sadly  that  "  the  wages  of  sin  is  death." 
The  new  society  which  had  arisen  was  characterised  by 
great  strength  and  activity,  and  it  was  eager  to  exercise 
itself.  Having  no  intellectual  material  on  which  to 
exercise  themselves,  excepting  that  furnished  from  the 
Greek  Philosophers  and  the  early  Christian  Fathers, 
they  accepted  it  and  commenced  their  operations.  But 
they   speedily   found   they  could   only  put    forth  their 


300         GREA  T  SCHOOLMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  A  GES. 

activities  within  such  limits  as  the  Church,  which  was 
the  supreme  ruling  power  in  those  ages,  prescribed. 
Under  such  restraints  as  the  Church  permitted  the 
Schoolmen  might  work,  but  only  within  those  limita- 
tions. They  rebelled  not,  the  age  of  rebellion  had  not 
come,  they  had  but  one  work  tliey  could  do,  and  they 
attempted  it.  They  set  to  work  on  -the  mass  of 
philosophical  and  theological  material  within  their 
reach.  They  had  but  one  instrument  whereby  they 
could  operate  upon  it.  It  was  the  finely  elaborated 
logical  method  of  the  great  Stagyrite,  and  by  it  they 
laboured  to  organise  the  shapeless  mass  into  a  symme- 
trical and  harmonious  whole.  They  adjusted  part  to 
part,  they  examined  minutely,  they  compared  diligently, 
they  classified  and  arranged  with  admirable  skill,  and 
there  came  out,  as  the  result,  the  most  perfect,  elaborate, 
and  extensive  system  of  Philosophical  and  Theological 
Truth  the  world  ever  saw.  Not  of  unmixed  truth  ; 
they  were  deterred  from  the  attainment  of  unalloyed 
truth  by  the  authority  of  the  Church,  which  forced 
upon  their  acceptance  the  mingled  truth  and  error 
which  it  had  received  and  professed  in  its  creeds  and 
councils,  and  which  it  thrust  upon  all  within  its  power 
with  a  firm  and  unrelenting  authority. 

But  whilst  receiving  the  mass  of  Church  dogma  as 
an  act  of  faith,  it  was  the  earnest,  persevering,  laborious 
effort  of  the  Schoolmen  to  justify  the  particulars  of 
that  mass  of  dogma  to  their  reason  and  understanding. 
This  was  the  continuous  effort  of  Scholasticism,  it  was 
the  secret  of  its  struggles  and  agonies,  the  inspiration 
of  its  hopes,  the  stimulus  of  its  life,  and  as  the 
Scholastic  Ages  rolled  on,  the  Schoolmen  still  sought 
to  bring  into  perfect  and  everlasting  harmony  the 
doctrines  of  Theology  and  the  reason  of  man.      They 


THE  RATIONALE  OF  SCHOLASTICISM.  361 

failed,  but  their  failure  was  really  their  greatest  vic- 
tory ;  they,  like  the  Alchemists,  sought  long  for  the 
Phi  osopher's  Stone,  which  would  turn  everything  into 
gold,  and  like  the  Alchemists  they  found  it  not.  And 
yet,  like  the  Alchemists  again,  they  found  a  higher  and 
a  nobler  treasure  than  they  had  hoped  for.  For,  as 
out  of  the  labours  of  the  strange  mysterious  searchers 
into  the  secrets  of  Nature  there  came  rich  and  blessed 
treasure  in  the  discoveries  and  triumphs  of  modern 
chemistry  ;  so  out  of  the  patient  faith,  the  consecrated 
lives,  the  high  reasonings,  the  elaborated  structures,  the 
elevated  and  elevating  themes  of  the  Schoolmen,  there 
have  come  victories  of  faith,  experiences  of  freedom, 
attainments  in  truth,  possibilities  of  facile  expression  of 
the  noblest  subjects,  the  unrestrained  exercise  of  reason 
and  conscience,  the  enjoyment  of  a  full  Christian  life, 
and  the  possession  of  an  incalculably  precious  spiritual 
inheritance,  which  may  be  to  all  people  and  for  all 
time. 


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